FX has renewed “American Horror Story” for a 14th season. Variety reported the news on October 20th. Deadline says FX made the announcement. TVLine and TheWrap put Hulu in the deal as well. The renewal lands a week ahead of the season 13 finale on Thursday, October 29th. It is the first renewal for the Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk anthology in almost seven years, according to Deadline.
The theme and the cast for season 14 have not been announced. TheWrap says so plainly, and Deadline, Variety and TVLine add nothing on either point. No premiere date has been announced either. The on-record material about season 14 so far comes mostly from Murphy, and it points in one direction. He says the all-star format is not coming back. Warning beyond this point there are spoilers for the premise of “American Horror Story: 13”.
The theme and the cast for season 14 have not been announced.”
The last renewal came in January 2020, when FX announced a three-season pickup covering seasons 11, 12 and 13. Deadline notes that many assumed that meant the show would end at 13. FX chairman John Landgraf fed that idea. He told Deadline at the time, “It will be poetic, won’t it, if it ends after 13 seasons?” He also kept the door open, saying the show could keep going until “it ends up being 20 seasons.” And he called the pickup “not a decision to cancel it,” so the finale was never a firm FX plan.
Some of the cast heard the same thing from Murphy. In a Hollywood Reporter roundtable published October 8th, Jessica Lange said, “I want to also say that Ryan said this was the last season. But now I understand that perhaps, it’s not.” Billie Lourd added, “I think we all did.” Leslie Grossman read it differently. She said, “I was not under the same impression.” Murphy has been plain about his own plans for months.
In an interview published August 6th, Murphy told THR, “Season 13 is not the end” and said he was working on season 14 “as we speak.” He described the work as finding the idea and finding the cast. He also credited Landgraf with the open door. Murphy said the FX chief told him, “As long as you want to keep making them, I’ll keep airing them.” Murphy called that backing “very empowering.”
The one thing Murphy will not repeat is the reunion itself. He told THR in August that the all-season tribute is something “we’ll never do again.” Asked at the September 23rd premiere in New York whether he could do it again, he said, “Never! Never, no, no. I don’t think it would ever happen again.” His reason is partly sentimental. He likes how the season leaves its characters and said, “Some of them live, some of them die.” He expects other seasons to play differently. That is a direct statement from the man who decides, and it shapes what season 14 can be.
Murphy also pointed at a direction for the show. He told THR, “I really want this show to go international.” Then he asked himself a question, “what is an international version of Horror Story?” He called it “something I’m writing right now” but added that he did not know. THR’s own framing was firmer than his words. It wrote that he is already writing for the next season and hopes to take the franchise abroad. Murphy kept it loose. Treat it as an idea he is exploring and nothing more.
The actors are not convinced the story is over. Sarah Paulson told THR, “I’ve always said you’re gonna have to drag me out of this universe kicking and screaming.” She sat out seasons 11 and 12 and says her appetite is back. Angela Bassett called a reunion “entirely possible.” Grossman said, “If I’m invited to the party, I will go.” Lange sounds firm the other way. In that roundtable she called her return “a one and done.” Paulson answered that she has seen Lange asked about coming back on the street and say “Absolutely not.”
Murphy has not named anyone for season 14. He has left doors open. Asked by People why Taissa Farmiga is missing from season 13, he said “once you’re on the show, you’re always on the show,” in Capital FM’s account of the interview. He added, “We’re working on the next season and trying to figure that out.” Ariana Grande is the other open door. She left season 13 because of her tour. Murphy told THR in August that the idea could return in another season “per Ariana’s availability.” Capital FM also quotes executive producer Ned Martel on the absence of Lily Rabe and Denis O’Hare. He said “there’s never enough time.”
The renewal follows a strong run. Variety says season 13 opened with 4 million views in four days, the best streaming performance of any premiere in the series’ history. Deadline adds that the debut landed on Nielsen’s Streaming Top 10 and was Murphy’s biggest launch ever on Hulu and Disney+. THR reported on October 8th that the season had stayed in that top 10 every week since its release. Variety calls this a significant feat after the three-year gap since “Delicate” arrived in 2023. The season runs 13 half-hour episodes, per THR, even though Deadline calls the show FX’s longest running hour-long series.
Season 13 is a crossover set primarily in New York City, per Deadline. The story centers on the Apollyon, a residential building with a portal to Hell in its basement. Variety says Joey Pollari plays a hospice care worker with a phobia of the number 13 who looks after characters from earlier seasons. That explains the parade of returning stars. Murphy laid out the plan in July on Entertainment Tonight. “Everybody thinks it’s a Coven season and it’s not. It’s all the seasons,” he said. He added that Paulson plays six or seven roles, Lange plays all four of her iconic characters, and Evan Peters plays five.
The idea of a connected universe is older than season 13. THR traces the run from “Murder House” in 2011 through “Coven” in season three and “Apocalypse” in season eight to “Delicate” in season 12. SlashFilm reported on October 31st, 2016 that Murphy told EW’s PopFest, “we are going to do a season that’s a crossover between Murder House and Coven together, which is very bizarre.” That season became “Apocalypse” in 2018. THR called it the long-hyped crossover between the two seasons. It brought Lange back as Constance Langdon after she had sat out three seasons. Paulson was set to play three characters in it.
That history matters for timeline readers. Season 13 pulled every earlier season into one story, and Murphy now says he will not do that again. Season 14 therefore looks like a fresh start rather than a sequel to the Apollyon story. No one involved has said whether it shares a universe with season 13, so that read is analysis and not news. Murphy has also said he likes how the characters end. A cleaner break would suit that.
The creators remain in charge. Murphy told THR that he and Falchuk “worked on it this year together” and called showrunners Ned Martel and Charlie Carver their “lieutenants.” Murphy also directed the pilot, and he said he had not directed an episode since “Freak Show,” which he put at season four. No showrunner or writers have been named for season 14. The series is FX’s flagship drama, per Deadline’s 2020 report. It has drawn more than 100 Emmy nominations and 17 wins since 2011, including acting wins for Lange, Kathy Bates and James Cromwell. Variety adds that it has driven more than 2 billion hours of engagement since season 1.
What Do You Think? Is Murphy right to close the all-star chapter after the biggest premiere the series has had? Would you watch an “American Horror Story” built abroad, or does the show belong in an American house, hotel or town? And which old season, if any, should season 14 connect back to?
Catch up properly: every American Horror Story season in chronological order on our Timeline Hub’s American Horror Story timeline.
See you on the next binge!
