One of the things that makes American Horror Story so distinctive is its iconic rotating cast. Since the anthology series debuted in 2011, actors including Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett and many others have taken on multiple characters across drastically different seasons.
That familiar American Horror Story cast is coming together in a big way for the latest season, which brings back stars and fan-favorite characters from throughout the series. While Coven initially appeared to be the focus of the season, creator Ryan Murphy has confirmed that Season 13 pulls from the entire American Horror Story universe, bringing characters from multiple seasons together for one story, with some actors reprising multiple of their previous roles.
American Horror Story: 13 premieres September 24, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET on FX and Hulu, with three episodes arriving on premiere night.
Here’s a look at who is returning for Season 13 and which AHS characters they’re playing.
Want to revisit the American Horror Story universe before watching Season 13? You can see how we rank all 12 previous seasons and watch them all on Hulu with DIRECTV.
‘American Horror Story: 13’ Known Cast & Characters
Season 13 brings together a mix of AHS returning characters from throughout the anthology. Here’s a closer look at the confirmed cast and the roles they’ll be playing.
Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon, Sister Jude, Fiona Goode and Elsa Mars
Known from: Tootsie, King Kong, The Vow, Blue Sky, All That Jazz
Jessica Lange was there from the very beginning of American Horror Story, starring in the first four seasons and becoming one of the actors most closely associated with the show. For Season 13, she’s bringing back several of the characters that helped make that run so memorable.
There’s Constance Langdon, the glamorous but deeply complicated neighbor from Murder House. On the surface, she can come across as charming, polished and almost Southern-belle-like, but underneath that image is a calculating woman who will manipulate, deceive and even kill to protect what she considers hers. Sister Jude couldn’t be more different. The strict nun oversees Briarcliff Manor in Asylum, using fear and punishment to maintain control while hiding her own guilt and painful past.
Then there’s Fiona Goode, the Supreme of the witches in Coven, whose obsession with maintaining her youth and supernatural power puts her at odds with nearly everyone around her. The last of Lange’s returning characters is Elsa Mars, the ambitious owner of Freak Show’s struggling traveling sideshow. Elsa wants more than anything to become a star and her hunger for fame can push her over the edge of sensibility.
How these four characters can exist in the same story remains one of Season 13’s biggest mysteries, particularly because several of them died during their original seasons.
Sarah Paulson as Cordelia Goode and More
Known from: American Crime Story, Ratched, Ocean’s Eight, Run, Bird Box
Sarah Paulson is another one of the most frequently recurring actors in American Horror Story, appearing in nearly every season and taking on a remarkably wide range of characters along the way. For Season 13, she gets to revisit several of them, with Ryan Murphy revealing that she will play six or seven roles in total.
At the center of her Season 13 return is Cordelia Goode, the witch who begins Coven as Fiona’s daughter and ultimately succeeds her mother as Supreme, later leading the coven against Michael Langdon, the Antichrist, in Apocalypse. Paulson will also revisit some of her more unexpected roles, including Wilhemina Venable, the authoritarian figure who runs Outpost 3 in Apocalypse; Hypodermic Sally, the ghostly drug addict who haunts the Hotel Cortez; Tuberculosis Karen, the talented artist with a dehabilitating illness from Double Feature; and Mamie Eisenhower, who becomes entangled in the season’s alien conspiracy. At least one additional role has yet to be revealed, adding another mystery to Paulson’s already packed Season 13 lineup.
Evan Peters as Tate Langdon, James Patrick March, Kai Anderson and More
Known from: Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, X-Men: Days of Future Past, The Beauty, Kick-Ass
Evan Peters has been one of the most familiar, and favorite, faces in American Horror Story since the very first season, moving from troubled teenagers to serial killers and everything in between. Ryan Murphy has confirmed that Peters will play five characters this season, with the trailer revealing three so far.
Fans will recognize Tate Langdon, the troubled teenager and ghost at the center of Murder House, as well as James Patrick March, the wealthy serial killer who designed the Hotel Cortez as the perfect place to indulge his murderous impulses. Peters also returns as Kai Anderson, the manipulative cult leader from Cult whose ability to turn fear and resentment into control made him one of the show’s more unnerving villains. Beyond these characters, two more of his Season 13 roles are still waiting to be revealed.
Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery
Known from: Scream Queens, Nancy Drew, We’re the Millers, Nerve
Emma Roberts returns as Madison Montgomery, the sharp-tongued, self-absorbed witch first introduced in Coven. Madison is a Hollywood star with telekinetic abilities who is used to getting what she wants and isn’t particularly interested in hiding her attitude. Beneath the arrogance, however, she gradually becomes more invested in the other witches and proves that there’s more to her than her spoiled, celebrity persona.
Madison returned in Apocalypse, where she assisted the other witches in the coven’s fight against Michael Langdon. Roberts most recently appeared in AHS as Anna Victoria Alcott in Season 12’s Delicate, but Season 13 sees her returning to the character most closely associated with her time on the series.
Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau
Known from: What’s Love Got to Do with It, Black Panther, 9-1-1, Green Lantern
Angela Bassett reprises Marie Laveau, the powerful Voodoo Queen of New Orleans from Coven. A respected and feared practitioner of Voodoo, Marie has her own long-standing rivalry with the witches of Miss Robichaux’s Academy and ultimately becomes an important ally in their fight against the threat facing them.
Season 13 marks Marie Laveau’s third appearance in the franchise and reunites Bassett with several of her former Coven co-stars.
Kathy Bates as Madame Delphine LaLaurie
Known from: Misery, Titanic, Fried Green Tomatoes, Dolores Claiborne, Matlock
Kathy Bates returns as Madame Delphine LaLaurie, the wealthy New Orleans socialite from Coven who is based on the real-life 19th-century horrifying figure. In AHS, LaLaurie is condemned to an immortal life after Marie Laveau curses her, leaving her forced to confront the consequences of her cruelty. Bates’ performance earned her a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie.
Although Bates has played several other characters in the anthology, including Ethel Darling in Freak Show, Iris in Hotel and Miriam Mead in Apocalypse, Season 13 brings her back as LaLaurie.
Frances Conroy as Myrtle Snow
Known from: Six Feet Under, The Aviator, Joker, Dead to Me, Arrested Development
Frances Conroy is back as Myrtle Snow, the flamboyant witch and devoted member of the coven in Coven. Known for her distinctive style, dramatic personality and fierce loyalty to the witches, Myrtle serves as a close ally and mentor to Cordelia. After her death in Coven, she returns in Apocalypse and once again plays an important part in the coven’s story, showing that nobody truly stays dead in AHS.
Gabourey Sidibe as Queenie
Known from: Precious, Empire, The Big C, American Horror Stories
Gabourey Sidibe returns as Queenie, a powerful young witch from Coven who can use her abilities to manipulate the injuries she inflicts on others, making her essentially a human voodoo doll. Queenie becomes an important member of the coven before crossing paths with the Hotel Cortez in Hotel, where her story takes a tragic turn. She later returns in Apocalypse after being brought back to life by Michael Langdon.
Billie Lourd as Winter Anderson and Mallory
Known from: Booksmart, Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Scream Queens, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
Billie Lourd returns as Winter Anderson from Cult and Mallory from Apocalypse. Winter is Kai Anderson’s younger sister and begins Cult as a rebellious young woman whose relationship with her brother becomes increasingly complicated as his movement grows. Mallory, meanwhile, is introduced in Apocalypse as a seemingly ordinary young woman who discovers she has powerful witchcraft abilities and eventually becomes one of the most important figures in the coven.
Lourd has played several different characters across the anthology, but Winter and Mallory are the two established roles most directly connected to Season 13.
Leslie Grossman as Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt
Known from: Popular, What I Like About You, The Good Place, Love, Victor
Leslie Grossman returns as Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt, the wealthy socialite introduced in Apocalypse. Initially more concerned with luxury and her own status than the supernatural world around her, Coco discovers that she has magical abilities and becomes connected to Cordelia’s coven as the season progresses. Grossman has appeared in several seasons of AHS, but is set to return as the witch for Season 13.
John Carroll Lynch as Twisty the Clown
Known from: Fargo, Close to Home, The Founder, Miracles from Heaven, Shutter Island
John Carroll Lynch reprises Twisty the Clown, one of American Horror Story’s most iconic villains. Introduced in Freak Show, Twisty is presented as a terrifying killer who abducts children, but his backstory reveals a much more tragic story. He was once a successful children’s clown whose career was destroyed by false accusations, eventually leading to his suicide attempt, disfigurement and transformation into the killer known as Twisty. After his death in Season 4, Twisty’s image takes on a life of its own in Cult, where he becomes the inspiration for a fictional comic-book villain.
Mat Fraser as Paul the Illustrated Seal
Known from: Helen of Troy, Unarmed But Dangerous, CripTales
Mat Fraser returns as Paul the Illustrated Seal, one of the performers in Elsa Mars’ traveling freak show in Freak Show. Paul is known for the intricate tattoos covering his body and becomes part of the close-knit troupe from the sideshow. Despite being killed in the freakshow massacre during the season finale, Paul somehow makes his way back into the AHS universe for the latest season.
Mena Suvari as Elizabeth Short
Known from: American Beauty, American Pie, Six Feet Under, American Woman
Mena Suvari reprises Elizabeth Short, better known as the Black Dahlia, from Murder House. Based on the real-life unsolved murder of Short in 1947, the AHS version of the character is tied to the sinister history of the Murder House and is portrayed as one of the spirits lingering around its walls. Suvari later reprised the role in Apocalypse.
Zach Villa as Richard Ramirez
Known from: Honeyglue, Destroyer, Vengeance, Bull Run
Zach Villa returns as Richard Ramirez, the serial killer at the center of one of the major storylines in 1984. The character becomes entangled with the supernatural forces surrounding Camp Redwood, repeatedly escaping death and continuing his reign of terror long after his original crimes. Villa’s portrayal drew on the real-life “Night Stalker,” while AHS takes the character into its supernatural mythology.
Orlando Jones as Papa Legba
Known from: Evolution, Drumline, Sleepy Hollow, Abbott Elementary, American Gods
Orlando Jones takes over as Papa Legba, the supernatural gatekeeper from Coven and Apocalypse. As Marie Laveau’s powerful spiritual ally, Papa Legba oversees the passage between the living and the dead and is known for making deals that come with a steep price. The character was previously played by the late Lance Reddick.
Seth Gabel as Jeffrey Dahmer
Known from: Fringe, Big Sky, The Watcher, The Rookie, Salem
Seth Gabel returns as Jeffrey Dahmer, whom he portrayed in Hotel. The character appears as one of the serial killers connected to the Hotel Cortez and its disturbing history, making Dahmer another example of AHS blending fictional characters with notorious real-life figures.
New Faces in ‘American Horror Story: 13’
While American Horror Story: 13 is largely built around returning favorites, the season also introduces several new faces to the franchise. Joey Pollari plays Ben DeSoto, a hospice worker who, after a near-death experience, is brought in to care for a mysterious client in an eerie penthouse. Constance Langdon helps train Ben for the unusual assignment, putting him at the center of the season’s story.
Alex Consani plays Morwenna and Avantika plays Ophelia, two new witches who join Cordelia Goode’s coven as it faces a new threat. Madelaine Petsch plays Kira, Ben’s girlfriend, who is described as being obsessed with the number 13. John Waters plays Mr. Phibes, a medical specialist who works closely with Constance and Ben.
Paul Anthony Kelly plays Young Nas, while Fedor Steer plays Mr. Nas. Berto Colón plays Joe the Doorman. Beyond those roles, the season also includes Elle Chapman, Grace Dumdaw, Cara Delevingne, Charlie Carver and Tig Notaro, but character details for these cast members remain a mystery ahead of the premiere.
Watch ‘American Horror Story: 13’ with DIRECTV
Ready to see how these familiar American Horror Story characters come together in Season 13? American Horror Story: 13 premieres September 24, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET on FX and Hulu.
Watch American Horror Story: 13 with DIRECTV and rewatch previous AHS seasons between episode releases.
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