The lead-up to a new season of American Horror Story is always, without fail, ten times more fun than the actual new season of American Horror Story. Ryan Murphy and Co. like to keep each entry's storyline close to the chest outside of a tagline and an Anti-Christ tease or two, and American Horror Story: Apocalypse is no different. A few days ago at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour, the show's executive-producers and main cast did some pretty creative things with the English language to avoid revealing too much of the plot. (So far, our best guess is a non-apocalypse apocalypse in which the word is over-run with mutated rabbits.) Now, FX has released the first teaser trailer for the anthology series' eighth season, and it leans hard into images of nuclear war.

Of course, there's no actual footage in the trailer; like most AHS teasers, it acts more like a spooky clip show that establishes tone more than story. You have to imagine that the emphasis on mushroom clouds, gas masks, and demon babies points to a dystopian-esque season, which would kind of fit into executive-producer Alexis Martin Woodall's explanation of what the title means in relation to the plot: “The story begins with the end of the world, and then our world begins.”

The nuclear hints could also, of course, mean absolutely shit-all. AHS teasers have been known to throw in footage of, like, a vampire beheading the Loch Ness Monster or something just because it's provocative and gets the people going. Really, all we know for sure about this season is that Jessica Lange is back on-board after a four-season hiatus and that Apocalypse will somehow act as a cross-over between seasons one (Murder House) and three (Coven).

Check out the trailer below. American Horror Story: Apocalypse—which also stars Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, and Evan Peters—debuts on FX September 12.

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Image via FX
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Image via FX
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Image via FX