American Horror Story is bringing back its most infamous characters all at once. American Horror Story: 13 premieres Thursday, September 24 on FX, reuniting villains and witches from across the anthology’s past seasons in one story built around the unlucky number.
About American Horror Story: 13
American Horror Story is the FX horror anthology from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk that has run since 2011, telling a self-contained story with a new setting and characters each season while reusing a core company of actors. Past seasons won Emmys for stars including Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates. Season 13 breaks that format. Instead of a fresh premise, it pulls characters and storylines from earlier seasons into a single timeline built around the number 13, and the first trailer, released September 10, sets a witch-hunting tone under the tagline “It’s Witch-Hunting Season.”
The trailer confirms a run of returning characters, including Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon from Murder House, Sarah Paulson as Cordelia and Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau from Coven, Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery, Evan Peters as Kai Anderson from Cult, and John Carroll Lynch as Twisty the Clown and the Rubber Man.
The anthology has merged its worlds before. Apocalypse, the eighth season, brought the casts of Murder House and Coven together, and individual actors have long recurred across seasons in new roles. Season 13 widens that idea, staging a convergence that reaches across more of the show’s history rather than a single crossover. For longtime viewers, the draw is seeing which versions of these characters return and how their stories line up, with the heavy Coven presence and the witch-hunting tagline pointing to where the season starts.
The Returning Cast
American Horror Story: 13 reassembles much of the anthology’s core company, many of them reprising past roles:
- Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon (Murder House)
- Sarah Paulson as Cordelia (Coven)
- Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau (Coven)
- Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery (Coven)
- Evan Peters as Kai Anderson (Cult)
- John Carroll Lynch as Twisty the Clown and the Rubber Man
- Kathy Bates, Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe, Leslie Grossman, Frances Conroy, Jamie Brewer, Mena Suvari, and Mat Fraser, all returning from previous seasons
- John Waters, joining the anthology for the first time
When and Where to Watch
American Horror Story: 13 premieres Thursday, September 24 at 9 p.m. ET on FX, and episodes stream the next day on Hulu in the United States and on Disney+ internationally. The season runs 13 half-hour episodes, a change from the show’s usual hour-long format. FX is releasing three episodes in each of the first two weeks, then two per week, with the finale set for October 29. It is American Horror Story’s first new season since Delicate concluded in 2024. Each past season stands alone, so newcomers can start here, though the reunions will land hardest for viewers who know the earlier casts.
For more new horror to stream this season, see our Halloween 2026 Streaming Guide.
