So, we’ve moved away from a structure-based storyline! Or have we? Last Friday night, the stars of American Horror Story: Asylum appeared as the final panel of the 2013 PaleyFest in Los Angeles, and let some interesting Season 3 information drop, along with some great stories about the making of the second season of the show.

In attendance were showrunners Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, executive producer Dante Di Loreto, writer Tim Minear, and castmembers Jessica Lange, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, and Naomi Grossman.

The biggest news, of course, is the name of the new season: American Horror Story: Coven. Yes, one of the themes is witches. We had reported to you that it would be about powerful women, though really both of the first two seasons had that as a subtheme as well. It will be shot in a few different locations, which we had also told you about earlier, but now we know that one of the locales is New Orleans.

Kathy Bates makes a surprise appearance, and Ryan Murphy talks a bit about her Season 3 “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs character” – “I wanted to see a lot of scenes with Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange going at it, so that’s what you’re going to see.”

In other news, Ryan Murphy does reveal, cryptically, that he’s in discussions with FX about a “companion piece” to AHS, which may mean another anthology show.

Wow, Jessica Lange delivering a line about lingerie, what a perfect ending to the panel. The woman is an absolute treasure. I’ve been lucky enough to be in attendance at AHS interviews and they’re terrific people, so it’s great that Hulu has made the video of the panel available for all to see. I am SO READY FOR OCTOBER.

American Horror Story: Coven, starring Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, and Taissa Farmiga, is expected to premiere this fall on FX.