American Horror Story: Coven Poster: The Snakes of Wrath

FX has released official key art for the third season of American Horror Story and in it, three women open their mouths to reveal the snake within, a clever nod to the season’s witchcraft theme.

The snake symbolizes the spells that the New Orleans-based coven will have to utilize if they hope to stave off the threat that has arisen against their kind. Centuries after nearly becoming extinct from the Salem Witch Trials, the remaining young witches have been sent to a school in the south to learn the proper ways in which to protect themselves from those who wish to do them harm, led by the Supreme (Jessica Lange), who has been especially unnerved by the recent attacks against her coven.

Disrupting things will be the new girl in town (Taissa Farmiga), carrying a potentially deadly secret of her own that could make her a pariah among the rest of the witches. Is there a chance that whatever she’s hiding relates back to the string of violence that has plagued her fellow witches? If the training is derailed by the arrival of someone like her, perhaps there’s a chance that she’s been cursed by a fellow witch and unknowingly carrying a spirit with her that is responsible for the negative energy and damaging violence; another possibility could be that she’s on the run from someone looking to take her power and extinguish her due to said power, meaning that she’s drawn what could be the biggest threat to the coven right to them before they’re ready to defend themselves.

In addition to Lange and Farmiga, American Horror Story: Coven is set to star the likes of Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Kathy Bates, Gabourey Sidibe, and Angela Bassett.

American Horror Story: Coven is set to premiere Wednesday, October 9th at 10:00 on FX.

Will you be watching American Horror Story this season? What are you expecting out of Coven? How do you think Coven will compare to Murder House and Asylum?