The plot of “American Horror Story” Season 7 started out as a joke about Season 6

Once again, American Horror Story is going to make us painstakingly wait for details about the upcoming season. While we know Season 7 is going to have ~something to do with the 2016 election~ we’ve got nothing else to go off of. Right now, there are only two confirmed cast members, no solid theme, no setting or characters descriptions, nothing. Nadda. Zip.

However, during the American Horror Story: Roanoke PaleyFest panel Sunday night, one of the show’s executive producers dropped a tiny little clue about the season: It all started out as a joke about Season 6.

As you fondly remember, Season 6 of American Horror Story was a literal surprise. We all learned the theme at the same time, the night of the premiere, at 10pm (or if you’re me, 7pm PST). While we were kept in the dark, turns out not everyone was kept out of the loop. A few people knew the theme — or, they knew a fake theme (HEY, REMEMBER “THE MIST?” I DO!).

As executive producer Tim Minear explained to the crowd, “There was a lot of secrecy and a lot of making sure the scripts wouldn’t get out. We tried to make sure nothing got leaked. Eventually, it did.”

But the secrecy went even deeper.

“At the beginning of every season, in order to secure the tax benefit, you have to give a synopsis of what you’re doing,” Minear said. “That was not okay with [showrunner] Ryan [Murphy], but we had to give them something.”

That’s when the creative team put on their thinking hats, and just made something up for the plot of Season 6 (and this is where we get “~The Mist~”). However, American Horror Story being American Horror Story, here’s where the twist comes in. As Minear continues:

"So we made up this completely batshit thing for those two paragraphs and the funny thing is, we’re doing it this year.

Wow so it became AHS: The Mist for tax write-offs cool #AHSRoanoke #PaleyFest pic.twitter.com/MCDxOVPZjB

— Rachel Paige (@rachmeetsworld) March 27, 2017

This is both hilarious, and terrifying. It still doesn’t give us any indication of what the theme of Season 7 will be, but if it was funny enough to be a joke during Season 6, it must be good enough to be fully fleshed out into a full season. I hope.