FX Officially Orders ‘American Horror Stories’, Renews ‘It’s Always Sunny…’ & ‘Better Things’
FX has announced their renewals and new shows for the 2020/2021 season, and it includes an official pick up for ‘American Horror Story’ spin-off, ‘American Horror Stories‘, along with a record-breaking 15th Season renewal for ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia‘ and a 5th Season renewal for ‘Better Things‘.
A couple of weeks ago, creator Ryan Murphy revealed on Instagram that he was working on a spin-off idea to the main ‘American Horror Story’ franchise. ‘American Horror Stories’ will have the same crazy horror you’ve come to know and love, but will be set up as a weekly anthology show, with each of the individual hour-long episodes telling a different story, rather than a season-long overarching narrative.
The pick up is partly as a way to plug the gap left by filming on the 10th Season of AHS currently being in limbo due to the pandemic. It was originally planned to film over the summer and was set at a beach, so the weather played a major factor in when they could shoot the horror drama, meaning it likely can’t shoot until summer 2021. The show has already been renewed up to Season 13, so it will return, we just don’t know when. The virus has also left filming of ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’, the 3rd Season of that drama, in limbo as well.
‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ follows the trials and tribulations of 4 friends who run “Paddy’s Pub”, a bar in South Philadelphia, as the battle their narcissistic tenancies to stay friends and keep the bar running. With a 15th Season renewal, the show becomes the longest-running live-action comedy series on US tv.
‘Better Things’ is created by and stars Pamela Adlon as Sam Fox, an L.A. based actress and single mother to 3 daughters trying to juggle life, mothering, and getting her big break. The series has picked up critical acclaim along with Peabody & Critics’ Choice Award, and multiple TCA and Emmy nominations.
‘American Horror Stories’ joins a host of previously announced new shows coming to FX. They include an adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn’s comic book ‘Y: The Last Man‘; Thriller ‘The Old Man‘ starring Jeff Bridges & John Lithgow based on the Thomas Perry novel about a former intelligence officer living off the radar finds himself targeted for assassination; Limited series ‘A Teacher’, starring Kate Mara & Nick Robinson about a female teacher’s affair with her male student; An untitled half-hour anthology series from B.J. Novak (‘The American Office’) which uses the boldest issues of our times as a jumping-off point to tell singular, character-driven stories about the world we live in today; Docuseries ‘Hip Hop Untold’ going behind the music; Feature-length documentary ‘Hysterical’, examining the changing landscape for women in stand-up comedy; Docuseries ‘Pride’ about the LGBTQ fight for civil rights; And docuseries ‘A Wilderness of Error’ about Army Surgeon Jeffrey MacDonald, who was sent to prison for killing his family.
Alongside ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ and ‘Better Things’, other returns shows include Season 10 of ‘American Horror Story’, ‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’, ‘Atlanta’ Season 3, ‘Dave’ Season 2, ‘Snowfall’ Season 4, ‘Pose’ Season 3, ‘Archer’ Season 11, ‘Mr Inbetween’ Season 3, ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ Season 3, ‘Mayans M.C.’ Season 3, Season 2 of Sky co-production ‘Breeders’, and Season 4 of ‘Fargo’ which stars Chris Rock.
Due to the pandemic, it’s hard to say exactly when these series will land. The new FX series, including ‘American Horror Stories’, should (in theory) air on BBC Two in the UK, assuming there aren’t any odd production deals going on behind the scenes. We’ll let you know when we have more info.
