Ryan Murphy has said a lot to suggest that he's fascinated with the idea of a cult. Back in 2013, he gave an interview with Deadline, where he talked about his desire to focus on Charles Manson. "There was a point last year in August where I was like, 'I want to do an entire season about the [Charles] Manson case.' But then we decided that wasn't respectful to the victims, and it's really hard to get life rights . . . we might go back to the Manson thing in some regard one day."
In Entertainment Weekly, another quote about the tone of season six seems to carry connotations of this theme. "The next thing we're crafting up is very, very different than [Hotel]," he revealed. "Not smaller. But just not opulent. More rogue and more dark." Considering how cults operate in such mysterious and secretive ways, there's a noted connection between the themes he teased and the fact that Charles Manson is on his mind.
