American Horror Story: Ryan Murphy Teases a Killer Freak Show Comeback

One of American Horror Story's most grotesque creations may be returning in Season 7.

Series creator Ryan Murphy took to his preferred mouthpiece for scoop -- his own social media -- to tease the return of one of his most iconic villains... Twisty (John Carroll Lynch), the murderous clown from American Horror Story: Freak Show.

In an Instagram picture, Murphy showed off a shot of some dailies with some hands holding up a comic book titled Twisty: The Clown Chronicles with our old grinning friend gracing the cover.

Normally, you'd think "cool prop" and be done with it. But Murphy's caption -- "He's baaaack" -- seems to indicate more. Murphy previously said that the upcoming Season 7 would be tied to Freak Show but did not specify how, only saying that several Freak Show characters would be featured in it despite being set about half a century later.

Here's the thing: Twisty died at the hands of Mordrake in Freak Show, and his ghost was invited to join Mordrake's sideshow of freaky ghosts. So could Twisty return in ghost form, perhaps to haunt the new season and its connection to our own clown show of modern-day political figures?

Or is Twisty's return more metaphorical in that it represents our twisted clown show of politics? Clown imagery looks to be big this season, with Murphy also posting this demented clown face over the weekend, as well as his previous post featuring an elephant -- the Republican party's mascot -- done up in clown face.

American Horror Story returns this fall on FX.