Ryan Murphy Reveals ‘American Horror Story’ Season 13 Brings Together All Previous Seasons: “It’s Like the Avengers”

Ryan Murphy confirmed that season 13 of his FX series "American Horror Story" was in the works in October 2025. Now, as filming on the new installment of the anthology series is ongoing, he's opening up about what fans can expect and revealing why theories that the season will be centered around "Coven" are misguided. This comes ahead of the premiere of his new show, "The Shards."

via: Variety

Ryan Murphy has revealed more details about the upcoming 13th season of “American Horror Story,” saying that it’s not a “Coven” continuation but actually “all the seasons” combined.

Speaking at the premiere of his new show “The Shards,” Murphy revealed to Entertainment Tonight: “Everybody thinks it’s a ‘Coven’ season and it’s not. It’s all the seasons.”

He continued, “So Sarah Paulson is playing six or seven roles. Jessica Lange is playing all four of her iconic characters. Evan Peters is playing five characters, and of course Kathy Bates and Emma Roberts and Billie Lourd. It’s like the Avengers! They all come together to defeat the ultimate evil.”

Rumors had been swirling that the new “AHS” installment would be a spinoff or sequel to its beloved third season after on-set photos emerged of Paulson, Roberts and more cast members dressed as witches.

Murphy admitted that many of the OG “American Horror Story” cast members had “said no” to returning over the years, but once he pitched them this idea “they were like, ‘Well, OK, we’ve gotta come back for that.'”

“I pitched Jessica Lange and she was like, ‘Oh shit, now I have to do it,'” Murphy said. “It’s all of them in one season, and it’s 13 episodes because it’s called ’13.’ I spent many, many months and many years writing it. I wanted to do ’13’ in a special way.”

Alongside Paulson, Lange, Peters, Bates, Roberts and Lourd, “American Horror Story” Season 13 will also see the return of Angela Bassett and feature “Love Story” breakout Paul Anthony Kelly, John Waters and Joey Pollari. Ariana Grande was also meant to appear in the show, but it was revealed earlier this month that she had dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with her “Eternal Sunshine” tour.

“American Horror Story” Season 13 will premiere on FX and Hulu on Sept. 24 at 6 p.m. PT.