'American Horror Story' S13's All-Star Cast: Who's Returning & Who They're Playing
Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk's American Horror Story (2011) is returning for Season 13. While the anthology series typically delves into a different horror each season, this time around, things are a bit different. AHS Season 13 is a major crossover event that will see characters from various seasons come together—and, yup, you guessed it; that means the return of a multitude of actors.
While we AHS fans are happy to see everybody come back, perhaps the most anticipated reprisal involves Jessica Lange, who left the series after Season 4's Freak Show, with only a brief appearance in Season 8's Apocalypse. So, in anticipation of reuniting with the Queen of AHS, here are all the returning cast members in American Horror Story Season 13 and who they're playing.
To start, these are all the cast members confirmed for multiple characters. After, find a breakdown for single-character returns and confirmed actors in unconfirmed roles (at least right now).
Jessica Lange
As mentioned above, Jessica Lange appeared in the first four seasons of American Horror Story before stepping away—and fans haven't quite gotten over it. Whether you believe Lange's absence "ruined" AHS or not, there's no denying that she has played some of the show's most important and memorable characters. Again, not really a surprise when you consider Lange has always been a powerhouse actress, earning many accolades over her career for projects like Tootsie (1982) and Blue Sky (1994).
Early AHS Season 3 promo images feature her as Constance Langdon, which is the character she also returned as in Apocalypse. So, while she'll play all her previous roles, it seems Constance might be the most significant of them in the new season.
Constance Langdon
Sister Jude
Fiona Goode
Elsa Mars
Sarah Paulson
After Lange's departure, Sarah Paulson sort of became the face of AHS. Although she stepped away in later seasons, she's continued to be a frequent Ryan Murphy collaborator in projects like Ratched (2020), and you can bet I'm still upset that we never got a second season of that.
At the time of writing, Paulson will return to AHS as Cordelia Goode, her fan-favorite character from Season 3's Coven, who ended that season as the new Supreme. As such, we may see interactions between Cordelia and her mother, Fiona (Lange), despite Fiona's death, because this is American Horror Story and anything is possible. Just like there's a very strong possibility that Paulson will play multiple characters in AHS Season 13.
Cordelia Goode
More likely
Evan Peters
Evan Peters marks another original AHS cast member set to return in a big way. While he also left the series alongside Sarah Paulson for Season 9, he returned for Season 10's Double Feature before taking another hiatus. Now, Peters is back and set to reprise some well-known characters, including Tate Langdon from Murder House.
Given Jessica Lange's Constance seemingly having a large role in AHS Season 13, it makes sense for her son, Tate, to also appear. Peters' Kia Anderson also offers a lot of storytelling potential, with the cult leader presenting a big problem for the rest of the characters should he be resurrected.
Tate Langdon
James Patrick March
Kai Anderson
More likely
Billie Lourd
Billie Lourd is a later addition to the American Horror Story cast, joining the cast in Season 7's Cult and becoming a series mainstay up until the current season. In Season 13, she'll reprise her role of Winter Anderson, the sister of Evan Peters' twisted cult leader, Kai Anderson, and Mallory, the not-so-meek assistant of Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt (Leslie Grossman) in Season 8's Apocalypse.
With Kai also returning for AHS Season 13, it makes sense that Winter would join him, just like Mallory's addition also makes sense, given her status as a powerful witch. With the Coven cast being a major part of AHS S13's story, we might see something even wilder from Mallory.
Winter Anderson
Mallory
Returning 'AHS: Murder House' Cast & Characters
Murder House, American Horror Story's first season, seems to be a major part of Season 13. It makes sense. The series already revisited Murder House in Apocalypse, with the latter season confirming that Michael Langdon—the child of Tate Langdon (Peters) and Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton) is, in fact, the anti-Christ. The witches from Coven manage to stop Michael, but it's possible he returns, or somehow their efforts affected other seasons via time travel.
Aside from the returns of Constance and Tate, the only other confirmed actor/character reprisal as of now is:
Mena Suvari as Elizabeth Short (also appeared in Apocalypse)
Returning 'AHS: Coven' Cast & Characters
When it comes to resurrection and power, it seems likely that Angela Bassett's Voodoo Queen could play a role in that. Marie Laveau, of course, was a big part of American Horror: Coven. The last time we saw her, she was in Hell with her biggest enemy, Madame LaLaurie (Kathy Bates), but it's doubtful she'll be trapped there for long. Perhaps she'll even team up with Lange's Fiona Goode to break free… somehow.
With most of the main Coven cast returning, Season 13 will likely deal with some type of fallout that occurred during their efforts to stop Michael Langdon in Apocalypse.
Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau
Frances Conroy as Myrtle Snow
Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery
Gabourey Sidibe as Queenie
Jamie Brewer as Adelaide Langdon
Returning 'AHS: Freak Show' Cast & Characters
Just how Freak Show fits into Season 13's crossover event is still unknown. Tying these characters to other AHS characters isn't quite so easy. However, John Carroll Lynch's Twisty the Clown is one of the series' most iconic villains, so it's no surprise that he'll make a return somehow.
John Carroll Lynch as Twisty the Clown
Matt Fraser as Paul the Illustrated Seal
Returning 'AHS: Apocalypse' Cast & Characters
Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt might be the only major Apocalypse character confirmed to return thus far, but technically, the Coven witches were also in that season, and we already know they'll play a big role in Season 13. Coco is another witch with a big-name family name attached to her, so she'll likely be a big asset in the new season.
Leslie Grossman as Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt
Confirmed Returning Cast in Unconfirmed Roles
The last few names on this list are actors confirmed to return in AHS Season 13, but in undisclosed roles. Some of these, we can probably predict. For example, Kathy Bates is likely going to appear as Madame Delphine LaLaurie, given the sheer amount of Coven characters returning. However, it's possible she could play other roles, too, like Ethel, the Bearded Lady from Freak Show.
Kathy Bates
Zach Villa
Seth Gabel
Cara Delevingne
