‘American Horror Story’: All The Links So Far Between ‘Roanoke’ And The Previous Seasons

Episode 2 of FX’s American Horror Story: Roanoke has aired, still centering on the story of Shelby and Matt. However, considering all seasons of AHS are supposed to be interconnected, are there any clues yet to show how this season links back to previous seasons?

Spoiler Alert: This article discusses Season 6 as well as previous seasons of FX’s American Horror Story. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

When Season 6 of FX’s American Horror Story aired last week, the biggest question on everyone’s lips was, “What’s the theme?” Usually, FX releases the theme of each season prior to the commencement of Episode 1. This year, though, they decided to keep it under wraps until Episode 1 aired. When it was finally revealed, some fans were confused, not sure if it was “Roanoke” or “True Life Stories” thanks to the documentary-like episode entitled “Chapter 1.”

Episode 1 of American Horror Story opened with a young couple, Shelby (Lily Rabe) and Matt (André Holland), being interviewed for a show called My Roanoke Nightmare. Along with this couple, the audience were also introduced to the actors who played them in the re-enacted parts of the My Roanoke Nightmare documentary, Shelby being played by Sarah Paulson and Matt being played by Cuba Gooding Jr.

Some fans suspected Season 6 of American Horror Story might not be about Roanoke, but about strange stories such as the one see in Episode 1. However, FX has since confirmed Season 6 of AHS is called Roanoke and Episode 2 has continued on with the same story and characters.

Ever since AHS’s co-creator Ryan Murphy revealed to Entertainment Weekly all the seasons of American Horror Story are connected, fans have been scrambling to find the links. So, are connections already showing up in Season 6 of AHS? Let’s take a look.

So far, most of the connections made between Roanoke and previous seasons of AHS seem to be to the original season. The first obvious connection is the fact Roanoke gets a mention in Season 1 of American Horror Story. As SlashFilm points out, Tate (Even Peters) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga) discover “Roanoke was where the first successful exorcism was performed.”

As Hello Giggles points out, the start of Episode 1 of both AHS’ Roanoke and Murder House are very similar. Both episodes reveal a shot where the house is introduced.

They also point out that Coven, also shows a similar image, minus the reveal of the house. It does, though, show two sticks tied together. While not identical to the stick figures shown in American Horror Story: Roanoke, it does remind the viewer of them.

The International Business Times has also discovered similar imagery between Roanoke, Asylum, Freak Show, and Murder House. This time, though, it involves an upward shot from the ground floor looking up through a winding staircase. While Coven doesn’t have the winding staircase, IBTimes does point out both houses in Coven and Roanoke were built around the same time. The house in Roanoke being built in 1790, while the one in Coven erected in 1792.

Refinery29 has suggested Roanoke and Murder House are also similar thanks to a reference made by a doctor who “draws an analogy between a body and the foundation of a house.” This suggests that the foundations of the house in Roanoke could harbor a secret, just like the house in Season 1 did.

Movie Pilot suggests that all the seasons of American Horror Story could be connected in a way only just revealed in Roanoke. They suggest that just like in Roanoke, all of the characters in previous seasons are being played by actors re-enacting stories in the same way Sarah Paulson and Cuba Gooding Jr. are portraying Shelby and Matt in Season 6 of AHS. This would certainly explain why the same actors are playing different characters in each season of American Horror Story.

Vanity Fair has also found a very interesting fan theory that involves Dante’s Inferno. The theory goes that each season of American Horror Story is based around the retelling of Inferno. The fan predicts that each season of AHS will revolve around the nine circles of Hell described in Inferno and that is how each season will be connected.

How do you think American Horror Story: Roanoke will be linked to previous seasons? Let us know by commenting below!

American Horror Story returns to FX with Season 6 Episode 3 on Wednesday, September 28 at 10 p.m. ET.

[Featured Image by FX Networks]