‘American Horror Story’ Season 13: Everything We Know

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The 13th installment of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's horror anthology series is returning — and in a big way.

September 18, 2026

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Get ready horror fans, because a new season of American Horror Story is approaching, and it brings back some of the series’ most beloved characters — and the actors who play them.

Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, AHS first debuted in 2011 with Murder House and has since taken viewers through season two’s Asylum, season three’s Coven, season four’s Freak Show, season five’s Hotel, season six’s Roanoke, season seven’s Cult, season eight’s Apocalypse, season nine’s 1984, season 10’s Double Feature, season 11’s NYC and season 12’s Delicate.

Now, the anthology series is nearly back for season 13, with franchise favorites including Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts and more stepping back into the Emmy-winning series, which has become a staple of the Murphy-verse.

The season is executive produced by Murphy, Falchuk, Ned Martel, Charlie Carver, Eric Kovtun, Nissa Diederich, Scott Robertson, Tanase Popa, Crystle Roberson Dorsey, Jennifer Salt and Tim Minear. It’s produced by 20th Television.

Below, The Hollywood Reporter breaks down everything there is to know about AHS: 13 — from its new and returning castmembers to what Murphy has teased about the franchise’s future and the first official footage.

This story originally posted Aug. 13 and will be updated through the season premiere.

• When Will Season 13 Be Released?

  After AHS: 13 was originally indicated to premiere around Halloween 2026, FX set its official release date for Sept. 24 at 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT on FX and Hulu. The season will include 13 half-hour episodes, with premiere week and week two each featuring three episodes. Following that, two episodes will be released each Thursday leading up to the 13th and final episode on Oct. 29.

• What Is Season 13 About?

  According to FX, here is the official logline: “An unrivaled 13th installment that will do justice to everyone’s most feared number. Bringing together an all-star cast, many of whom are reprising fan favorite roles, American Horror Story: 13 continues to build on the anthology’s decades-long legacy that has been streamed more than 700 million hours across the globe and spawned a legion of dedicated fans. American Horror Story has redefined the genre with various installments featuring a creepy murder house, a coven of witches, a traveling freak show, a haunted hotel and the apocalypse itself. Which iconic horrors will return to haunt the hallowed halls of 13 and what new terrors await? Light your candles, draw your pentagrams and prepare for a supreme surprise.”

  Murphy recently told THR, “This season is a thank you to the fans for continuing to watch.”

  He also teased to be on the lookout for certain nods to past seasons. “We also had a lot of the original costumes still in storage that we got to use,” Murphy said. “So there are little Easter eggs threaded around in the set decoration where fans can be like, ‘Wait, wasn’t that in season two?’ It was.” 

• Who Is Returning for Season 13?

  

  A plethora of franchise veterans are returning for AHS: 13. Find out who and which seasons they’ve previously been in below.

  • Sarah Paulson: Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show, Hotel, Roanoke, Cult, Apocalypse and Double Feature
  • Jessica Lange: Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show and Apocalypse
  • Evan Peters: Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Freak Show, Hotel, Roanoke, Cult, Apocalypse and Double Feature
  • Angela Bassett: Coven, Freak Show, Hotel, Roanoke and Apocalypse
  • Kathy Bates: Coven, Freak Show, Hotel, Roanoke, Apocalypse and Double Feature
  • Emma Roberts: Coven, Freak Show, Cult, Apocalypse, 1984 and Delicate
  • Billie Lourd: Cult, Apocalypse, 1984 and Double Feature
  • Gabourey Sidibe: Coven, Freak Show, Hotel and Apocalypse
  • Leslie Grossman: Cult, Apocalypse, 1984 and Double Feature
  • John Carroll Lynch: Freak Show, Hotel, Cult, Apocalypse and 1984
  • Mat Fraser: Freak Show
  • Mena Suvari: Murder House, Apocalypse
  • Zach Villa: 1984
  • Seth Gabel: Hotel

• And Who Are They Playing?

  

  Over the past few months, Murphy has posted first looks of actors returning in character on his Instagram. This has included Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon (Murder House), Sarah Paulson as Cordelia Goode, aka The Supreme, (Coven) and Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery (Coven).

  Speaking with Entertainment Tonight at The Shards premiere in July, Murphy further revealed more details on the seasons’ characters brings together elements from previous seasons.

  “Everybody thinks it’s a Coven season and it’s not. It’s all the seasons,” he said. “Sarah Paulson is playing six or seven roles. Jessica Lange is playing all four of her iconic characters. Evan Peters is playing five characters… It is like the Avengers. They all come together to defeat the ultimate evil.”

  Perhaps the biggest surprise for fans was Lange’s return. The actress has repeatedly said to press over the years that she would not return to the show after leaving in 2015.

  However, Murphy was able to convince her. He recently told THR, “It all started with Jessica [Lange] because Jessica, after we did the first four seasons, wanted to go off and do different things, which I understood completely. But I reached out to her thinking she would say no, and if she had said no, I probably wouldn’t have done it. She told me a story about how she was doing Broadway last season and she would go out after the show, and there were all of these young people who were there because they all watched her work on American Horror Story. And she was very moved by that. I said, ‘Well, that’s funny, because my idea is for you to do all four of your favorite characters.’ And she said, ‘Sign me up. I’d love to do it.’ I was so grateful.”

  “Before I started writing it, I had all of them — Emma [Roberts] and Evan [Peters] and Kathy Bates; Angela Bassett and Gabourey Sidibe and Leslie Grossman,” he said, in addition to Paulson.

  While promoting Murphy’s other series, The Beauty in January, Peters told THR that he was “shocked” Lange agreed to return: “Ryan knows how to have those dinners. He will get you in a second. I was definitely shocked, but thrilled, honestly.”

  (See more details on character’s in the trailer section.)

• Who Are the New Cast Members in AHS:13?

  

  First-time AHS actors include Paul Anthony Kelly, Alex Consani, Avantika, Madelaine Petsch, John Waters and Joey Pollari.  

  Kelly most recently worked with Murphy on Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, where he played JFK Jr. The 37-year-old actor appears with blonde hair in AHS: 13, as far as his character, Vogue reported that he is “the linchpin of the season.”

• What Happened to Ariana Grande’s Role?

  

  On Halloween 2025, Murphy announced on this Instagram that Ariana Grande was set to join a slew of American Horror Story veterans for season 13.

  However, in July, THR confirmed that the Grammy winner had dropped out of AHS: 13 due to a scheduling conflict with her Eternal Sunshine tour.

  Murphy recently spoke with THR about Grande’s exit, saying, “I love Ariana Grande. We’re great friends. I had an idea and I came to her and she, very immediately, said, ‘I’m not sure because I think I’m going on tour.’ I don’t think the tour had been announced, and she had obviously just finished the Wicked movie. So when it came time to do that episode, I called her up and she was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to juggle the tour with this.’ And I said, ‘OK, if you can’t, we can push to another season.’ She said, ‘Great.'”

  “You have to be respectful,” he continued. “Who is busier than Ariana Grande? No one. She had told me at the time, ‘I have this album that’s dropping.’ It was really, truly a scheduling conflict. … Ariana is a big fan of horror. She’s obviously done homages of that in her work; she did Scream Queens for me and loved the experience, and people love her in that show. So I will always work with her. I love her, and I support her. It was a very big swing, but I might bring that back for another season, per Ariana’s availability.”

• Has There Been a Trailer?

  

  A teaser trailer released Aug. 13 showed the franchise’s most beloved stars and characters back on screen — in addition to some of its most infamous villains. Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) from Freak Show opens the teaser, which then pans inside what appears to be a hotel, seemingly nodding to Hotel. Peters appears as Kai Anderson (Cult), Lange as Constance Langdon (Murder House), Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau and Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery — both from Coven.

  Kelly is seen in a bathtub with a snake, hinting that he could be a villain, while the trailer ends with Paulson as Cordelia Goode (Coven) looking at herself in the mirror — which then breaks.

  The official trailer released Sept. 10 offered a closer look at the characters the returning stars are reprising. “Get in. It’s witch-hunting season,” Peters‘ James Patrick March from season five’s Hotel says. The trailer also confirms that Peters is reprising his first AHS character, Tate Langdon, from Murder House, as well as the Rubber Man, the sinister figure known for wearing a skintight black latex suit.

  Elsewhere, Lange is seen as Fiona Goode, while Sidibe appears as Queenie (Coven). Lourd plays Winter Anderson (Cult), Grossman plays Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt (Apocalypse) and Lange plays Elsa Mars (Freak Show) as well as Sister Jude Martin (Asylum).

• What’s the Future of the Franchise?

  With season 13 of AHS on the horizon, Ryan Murphy has no plans to slow down. Speaking with THR earlier this month for his latest show, The Shards, Murphy made clear, “Season 13 is not the end.”

  “I’m working on season 14 as we speak in terms of, ‘What’s the idea?’ and ‘Who wants to be in it?'” he said.

  Murphy added, “I loved doing this season because I had not directed an American Horror Story since Freak Show, I think. Not since season four. And I directed the pilot this year and I just love the process of going to all the castmembers, all of whom are very busy, and saying, ‘Hey, can we get the band back together?'”

  Since starting the series in 2011, Murphy has emphasized his passion for AHS, as has FX boss John Landgraf.

  “It’s a very important show in my career,” he said. “It’s something that John said, ‘As long as you want to keep making them, I’ll keep airing them.’ That’s always been the idea behind it, which is very empowering.”

• Will There Be a Podcast?

  

  Like Murphy’s The Beauty and The Shards on FX, AHS: 13 will also have an official video podcast, AHS: 13 Official Podcast, on Hulu to accompany the season.

  The four-episode podcast will feature castmembers and creatives interviewing each other, with new episodes beginning with the release of the season premiere. AHS: 13 Official Podcast will be available on Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ for bundle subscribers in the U.S., Disney+ internationally, YouTube, with the audio-only version available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. The series will be produced by FX in partnership with AT WILL MEDIA.

  See the release schedule, below.

  • Episode 1 (Sept. 24): Sarah Paulson and Paul Anthony Kelly
  • Episode 2 (Oct. 1): Emma Roberts and Joey Pollari
  • Episode 3 (Oct. 8): Emma Roberts and Costume Designers Lou Eyrich and Catherine Crabtree
  • Episode 4 (Oct. 15): Paul Anthony Kelly and Production Designer Anu Schwartz

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