'American Horror Story: 1984' might see Zach Villa reprise his role as the Night Stalker on the show
The upcoming ninth season of 'American Horror Story', titled '1984', is all things slasher. From a masked murderer escaping from a psychiatric facility to haunt young campers to an innocent teen traumatized by the attacks from her past, there's no denying that Ryan Murphy's upcoming installment of the anthology horror has fan expectations at an all-time high. But at the same time, there's no denying the resemblances it carries with some real-life serial killers and throwbacks from the past - fan theories based on which will give you nightmares!
In one of the promo teasers for season 9, the characters can be seen walking towards the camera and showing off their costumes in the form of a screen test, and fans have now taken notice of Zach Villa's character bearing a striking resemblance to serial killer Richard Ramirez, or The Night Stalker. While the name of the character hasn't been announced, the hair and facial features are uncannily similar. And Reddit user Rman823 has also since noted that Ramirez's crimes started off around the time of this season's setting, aka the mid-80s. This makes it even more plausible to speculate that he might have started off his killing sprees at Camp Redwood - the lakeside camp from season 9 where all the mayhem takes place.
Also, the fact that Ramirez has already appeared in season 5 of the show makes more sense for the serial killer to make a comeback since all the seasons of the anthology are somehow connected to one another. What also solidifies the speculation is that Emma Roberts' character Brooke has had a traumatic encounter from the past where she was attacked by a masked man breaking into her house with a knife. While there's no direct indication of this attacker being Ramirez, the serial killer's real-life MO involved breaking into people's home at night before burglarizing, assaulting, or killing them off.
We have previously discussed the passing resemblances that this season's prime villain, aka the ax-wielding masked murderer Mr. Jingles, bears with the real-life Beauty Queen Killer, Christopher Wilder, but right now, there's a high chance that Murphy's season 9 killer could also be fashioned after the Night Stalker.
'American Horror Story: 1984' premiers on September 19 at 9 p.m. only on FX.