I honestly can’t remember the last time I’ve been as excited for a new season of American Horror Story as I am for the 13th season to hit the 2026 TV schedule. From Jessica Lange reprising Murder House’s Constance Langdon to the return of John Carroll Lynch’s Twisty the Clown to newcomers like John Waters, literally every new piece of information is reason to celebrate, and Ryan Murphy is thankfully as talkative as ever while promoting it. To the point where I have a pretty good idea of who the season’s Big Bad will be.
For all that I think other upcoming horror TV shows like Carrie and Crystal Lake will tell more coherent stories, the sheer unpredictability involved with AHS gives it a bonkers edge that nothing else on the small screen can match up with. Only a show 13 seasons into its life cycle can pull off everything that’s coming to the next batch of all-star installments. So let’s dig into some of Murphy’s latest comments, focusing first on a fun Evan Peters update.
I Can't Wait To See Evan Peters Acting Opposite Himself
When Ryan Murphy recently revealed how many roles each of the core stars will be playing, he noted that Evan Peters would be bringing five of his classic characters back, which had me speculating about which ones the creative team landed on. The co-creator confirmed two of those characters in an interview with Vogue when asked about any boundaries the cast set up in preparing to bring back so many former entities. According to Murphy:
The person who I think had the hardest time was Evan, because in one scene he had to play Tate/Rubber Man and Kai. So he had to have a conversation with himself. And I thought it was like, 'Oh, this is going to be trouble.' But Evan is such a pro that I think it only took two takes.
First, I can't exactly say that I'm drowning in positivity thinking about watching Season 7's blue-haired Cult leader Kai Anderson. Charismatic has he might have been at times, that season was as divisive as its subject matter, and isn't one that can be easily binged through, at least for me. But there's definitely a bonus attached to the idea of seeing him sharing the screen with Murder House's rubber-suited ghoul Tate Langdon.
I gotta think that Murphy & Co. are stretching disbelief to a breaking point by bringing Tate back again, considering the character died as a teenager and his ghost hasn't aged since that point. Peters was already 24 years old when the first season filmed, though it wasn't such an issue at the time. His age was far more apparent when he reprised the character as a 32-year-old in Apocalypse, and that was eight years ago. Still, I hope awkward-looking Tate bludgeon's Kai's head in with a big ol' dildo.
My Best Guess For AHS 13's Villain, Based On Ryan Murphy's Clue
Twisty and the Infantata may be my favorite villains from American Horror Story's annals, but it sounds like both of those freak-a-leeks are very small potatoes when it comes to the overarching threat that the protagonists will be facing in Season 13. Having previously dubbed the new antagonist the "ultimate evil," Murphy shared this new clue:
No, it’s a top secret. I can’t. But let me just put it this way: In many seasons, the [characters] have battled the Antichrist. The only hint I’ll say is, 'Let’s go above his pay grade for this.' That’s my clue.
Realistically, how many beings are there that could recognizably be at a higher pay grade than the flipping Antichrist? I can only think of two: Satan and the Almighty Himself, God. And you know what? I think it might feel too much like treading on familiar ground for Ryan Murphy to make the Devil the baddie in the new season. As such...
I think God will be AHS: 13's main villain. I don't think Murphy would have said what he did if the answer was just going to be Satan, since that's the most obvious step-up from the Antichrist in terms of overall power and reach. Rather, it seems much more in Murphy and co-creator Brad Falchuk's lane to bring a satirical tongue-in-cheek approach to making His Holiness the antagonist. And if I had to make a further guess, I'd say that Ariana Grande was cast to play God, but that's based on absolutely nothing but my newly realized desire to see Ariana Grande play God in AHS.
It does seem like actor Joey Pollari will be central to whatever that story will be. Murphy noted that to be able to tell a story about the "greatest villains we've done" coming together, that it needed to be a new story with a new character at its center, and Pollari is playing that character. I'm not sure how to shoehorn that info into my God guess, though.
What say you all? Should I be committed to the Asylum for my conjecture, or does my lofty guess deserve a Hotel penthouse?
American Horror Story 13 is set to make its highly anticipated debut on FX on September 24, 2026, with new episodes available to stream via Hulu subscription the next day.
