“American Horror Story” is heading back to streams just in time for Halloween season, and for it’s 13th season, the enduring horror show has recruited an absolute powerhouse ensemble of Ryan Murphy regulars. And when we say regular, we mean regular, which means most of them are playing more than one character. That includes the long-awaited return of Jessica Lange, who reprises all of her lead characters from Seasons 1 through 4, as well as a mystery character.
Of course, that also means there is so much lore to remember, and with this season set to have 30(ish)-minute episodes, not much time to remember it. We’ve got you covered with an in-depth guide to the “AHS 13” cast and their many, many characters below.
Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon, Sister Jude, Fiona Goode, Elsa Mars and a Mystery Character To-Be-Revealed
Iconic actress Jessica Lange makes her long-awaited return to “American Horror Story” in Season 13, reprising her Season 1 character Constance Langdon. And based on the episode descriptions, it sure seems like her story is a core throughline of the season. Hey, if you convince Jessica Lange to come back, you don’t waste the opportunity to put her front and center!
Speaking of which, the actress recently revealed she plays five characters this season: Constance, Season 2’s Sister Jude Martin, Season 3’s Fiona Goode, Season 4’s Elsa Mars and a fifth mystery character.
Here’s a quick rundown on those characters.
Constance Langdon: The matriarch of “Murder House,” Constance is mother to also-returning characters Tate (Evan Peters) and Adelaide (Jamie Brewer), as well as two other children. She returned briefly in “Apocalypse,” where we learned that she raised Vivien and Ben Harmon’s son, Michael (Cody Fern), whose actual father was Satan by way of Tate, and who became the Antichrist the “Coven” witches defeated in “Apocalypse.” After traumatic years trying to raise Michael, Constance took her own life in the Murder House so she could spend eternity with her three children there — Addie, who died outside the house, is not with them. However, when the “Coven” witches defeated Michael, they went back in time and killed him before her death, and he died in her arms begging to be brought into the Murder House.
Sister Jude Martin: A strict nun with a dark past, Sister Jude went from running the Briarcliff Manor institution to being committed there and experiencing the horrors of “Asylum” first-hand after she was framed by the possessed Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe). She eventually escaped the asylum and lived with former patient Kit (Evan Peters) until she died.
Fiona Goode: The former “Coven” Supreme and mother to the new Supreme, Cordelia (Sarah Paulson), Fiona was a ruthless and power-hungry witch who destroyed anyone she saw as a rival, including Madison (Emma Roberts) and the Supreme before her. She was so evil that Papa Legba (formerly played by the late Lance Reddick, Orlando Jones inherits the role for Season 13) told her she had no soul to trade with him. She died of cancer after Cordelia passed the seven wonders, realizing she could not kill her own daughter, and ended up in her own personal hell with her former lover, The Axeman (Danny Huston).
Elsa Mars: A German expatriate who suffered a great trauma when her legs were cut off in a snuff film, Elsa came to the U.S. after World War II with dreams of becoming a star but wound up the owner of Season 2’s “Freak Show.” Though she cared for her found family, she was selfish, ambitious and opportunistic, selling off the troupe to the cruel killer Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock), who murdered almost all the freaks in a murderous rampage. She moved to Hollywood and got her dream of becoming a celebrity, until her snuff film was recirculated, leading her to essentially take her own life by calling the spirit of Edward Mordrake (Wes Bentley) to her on Halloween night. However, she gets one of the happier endings of the series – he tells her she doesn’t belong wth his troupe of ghosts, and she instead goes to a personal heaven where she is reunited with and forgiven by her family of freaks.
Sarah Paulson as Cordelia Goode (and a LOT of Other Characters)
Another Ryan Murphy mainstay, Sarah Paulson is one of the most frequent faces in “American Horror Story” and a recent preview confirmed we’ll see a lot of those characters, at least a little bit. However, it seems the Emmy-winning actress will primarily be playing two characters: Cordelia Goode, Fiona’s daughter and the current “Coven” Supreme, who also played a pivotal role in saving the world in “Apocalypse,” and Wilhemina Venable, the tyranical ruler of Outpost 3, also from “Apocalypse.”
Cordelia Goode: Daughter to Fiona, the former Supreme, Cordelia had a brutal path to her own tenure in the role, losing and regaining her sight twice, finding out her husband was actually a witch hunter and generally surviving a mother like Fiona. “Coven” charted those struggles, her efforts to educate the next generation of witches as the headmistress of Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, her rise to become the new Supreme as her mother’s death, and her decision to inform the world about the existence of witches.
Her tenure as Supreme hasn’t been much easier. In contrast to Fiona, Cordelia is a caring, kind leader who loves her coven, which made the loses she had to sustain during the fight against the Antichrist in “Apocalypse” all the more difficult. In the end, she sacrificed herself to provoke the even-more-powerful witch Mallory’s (Billie Lourd) powers to fully manifest, allowing Mallory to turn back time and save the day. That means Cordelia is back at the head of Miss Robichaux’s in the new timeline, reunited with her coven.
Wilhemina Venable: A total contrast to Cordelia, Venable is a petty, power-hungry ruler with a chip on her shoulder. First introduced as the ruthless ruler of Outpost 3 in “American Horror Story: Apocalypse,” Venable rules her apocalyptic shelter cruelly, strictly enforcing a caste society and killing for kicks. Eventually, we learn that before the apocalypse, Venable was an assistant for Kineros Robotics, which worked for the Cooperative bringing about the Antichrist apocalypse, and she was assigned to be warden of Outpost 3. When Michael arrived at the outpost saying he would invite only the best of survivors to his sanctuary, she kills the rest of Outpost 3’s residents to ensure entry, only for Michael to force the robotic Mead (Kathy Bates) to kill her. We don’t yet know what happens to her after the timeline reset.
Angela Bassett as Marie Laveau
Another “Coven” titan who returns for Season 13, two-time Oscar nominee and “9-1-1” star Angela Bassett is back as Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau. Marie has a complicated past with the witches of Miss Robichaux’s, who have at times been enemies or allies.
She made a deal with Papa Legba for immortality, and in exchange, she fed him an innocent human soul every year. She also cursed Madame Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) to immortality, locking the serial-killing slave-owner in a coffin to be burried alive for centuries in an act of revenge. That ploy backfired at the end of “Coven,” when LaLaurie returned and dismembered Laveau, rendering her unable to fulfill her payment to Papa Legba, who, in turn, condemned her to hell.
She returned briefly in “Apocalypse,” where Cordelia and the Miss Robichaux’s witches made a deal with Papa Legba to free her soul from hell, and she helped them defeat the Antichrist, Michael, who ripped out her heart and killed her. However, Mallory’s time reversal spell means that Cordelia’s deal to get her out of hell likely never happened.
Evan Peters as Tate Langdon, James March and Kai Anderson
Evan Peters, of course, returns for “American Horror Story” Season 13, and it looks like a few of his characters will have a significant role to play. The “X-Men” and “Monster” Season 1 star holds the crown for most character in the “AHS” universe, and three of those have featured prominently in the pre-season marketing.
Tate Langdon: Peters’ “Murder House” character is one of the most beloved in the series’ run, despite also being one of the more horrific and treacherous individuals in that season. Constance’s son, Tate romanced the Harmon’s daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga) and tried to save her from a suicide attempt, but ultimatley failed, meaning they share eternity in the ghost-crowded Murder House. Unfortunately, it wasn’t happily ever after for the duo, as she learned his dark secrets: first, that he was a school shooter who killed fifteen students, and second, that he raped her mother and acted as a vessel to impregnate her with the devil’s son. The pair recieved a controversial reconciliation in “Apocalypse” after Madison cast a “clarity” spell on Violet that led her to forgive Tate, leaving them in a lovers’ embrace. However, due to the time-reversing spell in the series finale, this may have never happened in the new timeline.
James March: Among the most irredemable character in “American Horror Story’s” pantheon of monsters, James March was a serial killer who designed Season 5’s Hotel Cortez in the 1920s, including labrynthine hallways and dead ends to trap his victims. He was married to the Countess (Lady Gaga) and the original 10 Commandments Killer, and after killing himself on the hotel property, he became a blood-thirsty ghost, and decades later, manipulated John Lowe (Wes Bentley) to become his successor as a new 10 Commandments Killer.
Kai Anderson: Among the most surprising character returning for Season 13, Kai was the primary antagonist of the poltical slasher season, “Cult.” Racist and misogynistic with sociopathic tendences, Kai was motivated by the 2016 election to exploit the swirling culture wars to violent ends, starting a killer clown cult, before staging violent attacks that propelled him toward political office. He killed his sister Winter (Billie Lourd), who was initially a true believer in his cult, and in the end, his one-time victim Alley (Sarah Paulson) orchestrates both his downfall, leading to his imprisonemnt, and ultimately, his death.
Emma Roberts as Madison Montgomery
No surprise here, bitch – Madison is back again. “Scream Queens” and “Holidate” star Emma Roberts has plenty of “American Horror Story” characters under her belt, including the lead role in the most recent season, “Delicate.” But her “Coven” breakout Madison Montgomery is by far her most beloved – and one of bigest “AHS” fan favorites, in general. And from what we’ve seen so far, this is the one Roberts character you need to know for Season 13.
First introduced in “Coven,” Madison was a teen movie star and telekenetic witch who atteneded Miss Robichaux’s, where she emerged as a promising pupil. Too promising, in fact, and the power-hungry Supreme Fiona murdered her for it. It was short-lived, Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) found her body and brought her back to life with the help of necromancer Misty (Lily Rabe).
Unfortunatley, that was also short-lived. When Madison refused to return the favor and bring Zoe back from the dead, Zoe’s enraged undead boyfriend Kyle (Evan Peters) strangled Madison to death. She was sent to her personal hell, forced to work at a superstore processing returns for rude customers in eternity. Well, not quite. Madison returned again in “Apocalypse,” when Michael pulled her out of hell and she joined the Miss Robichaux’s coven in their fight against him. She was ultimately sent back to hell when Mallory succesfully completed the time-reversal spell, but Mallory vowed to get her back out in the new timeline.
Jamie Brewer as Adelaide “Addie” Langdon
Another unexpected return, Jamie Brewer is back as Adelaide Langdon, aka Addie, Constance’s daughter and Tate’s sister, who is the only soul in her family not bound to the Murder House. Brewer also played Nan in “Coven,” who hasn’t been in the promo but could pop up this season too.
A key supporting character in Season 1, Addie has one of the saddest stories in the series, a generally kind-hearted girl born into the wrong family, who often finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. She yearned to be a “pretty girl” like she saw in the magazines, and dressed in her “pretty girl” mask on Halloween, only to be hit by a car while Trick-r-Treating. Heartbroken, Constance tried to drag her daughter’s body into the Murder House so her spirit would stay there, but Addie was already dead.
Constance contacted Addie’s spirit with the help of medium Billie Dean Howard (Sarah Paulson), telling her daughter she thought she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and Billie Dean said Addie knew, that she was in a better place where she’s “a pretty girl at last” and that she was glad not to stuck in the Murder House with Tate, because she was scared of her brother after learning his truth.
Billie Lourd as Mallory and Winter
Season 13 also welcomes back “Scream Queens” and “Booksmart” star Bille Lourd, who has consistently appeared in every season since making her “AHS” debut in Season 7. She’s confirmed to return as at least two characters: Her “Cult” character Winter and powerful “Apocalypse” witch, Mallory.
Winter Anderson: Sister and accomplice to Season 7’s primary antagonist and political reactionary Kai, Winter vigilante streak coalesces with her brother’s rise as leader of a politically-motivated killer clown cult. She becomes his right hand, and works with Ivy to drive Ivy’s wife, Alley (Sarah Paulson), insane, posing as the perfect nanny while undermining Alley’s sanity from within. Kai turned on her after a fellow cult member framed her as a mole, and winter was strangled to death by her brother.
Mallory: Introduced in “Apcoalypse,” Mallory is an extremely powerful witch – more powerful than Cordelia and powerful enough to heal, control time and defeat the Antichrist. A ward at Miss Robichaux’s, Mallory was the presumed next Supreme, so when the apcalypse hit, the coven put a spell to erase her identity and hide her away in Outpost 3 so the Anichrist wouldn’t find her. But he does all the same, prompting the witches to come out of hiding for the endgame battle.
Mallory briefly becomes the Supreme during the fight to defeat the Antichrist, after Cordelia sacrifices herself to force Mallory’s full powers to manifest. After turning back time and killing the younger, powerless Michael by hitting him with a car, Mallory returns to Miss Robichaux’s, gets Misty out of hell and resolves to do the same for Madison. That means she was also left holding the bag as the only person who remembers the previous timeline, and while her spell saved the day for now, the final moments show a new Antichrist was born in the new timeline.
Gabourey Sidibe as Queenie
Another “Coven” member making her return, Oscar-nominated “Precious” and “The Big C” star Gabourey Sidibe returns as Queenie for Season 13. Appearing in Season 3, 5, 8 and now, 13, Queenie was a member of the Miss Robichaux’s coven along with Zoe, Madison and Nan, who has the power to inflict whatever harm she does to herself on someone else. She made it out of “Coven” alive, but when she appeared in “Hotel,” she was killed by the blood-thirsty ghost of Mr. March and vampire Ramona Royale (Angela Bassett).
In “Apocalypse,” we learned that Cordelia went to the Hotel Cortez and tried to pull Queenie’s spirit out, but the hotel’s evil was too powerful and she couldn’t do it. Queenie was trapped there playing infinite rounds of cards with Mr. March. During the Antichrist Michael’s rise, he proved his power bysuccessfully pulling Queenie out back into the realm of the living. Unlike the other witches who were saved during “Apocalypse,” we know that Queenie was ultimately saved from her fate at the Hotel Cortez. After the time spell, Mallory intervenes to prevent Queenie from staying there.
Leslie Grossman as Coco St. Pierre
The last of our returning witches in the core cast is Coco St. Pierre. Played by Leslie Grossman, who, like Billie Lourd, has appeared in every season of “AHS” since she made her debut in Season 7, Coco is an heiress introduced in “Apocalypse” as a snobby socialite who treated her assistant, Mallory, like trash. But when the “Coven” witches arrived, we learned she was put under an identity spell with Mallory (Coco’s personality inspired by Madison, no less) to hide away in Outpost 3. In reality, she’s much friendlier, with the power to sense danger. She was killed in the battle with Michael, but after Mallory’s time-reversing spell, she wound up back at Miss Robichaux’s in the new timeline.
Kathy Bates as ??
It wouldn’t be a proper “Coven” reunion without screen acting great Kathy Bates, and the actress is confirmed to be a part of the cast, but expected only to make a brief appearance. (It can’t be easy finding time between leading episodes of her Emmy-nominated “Matlock” reboot.) We don’t know who she’ll be returning as yet, but the vicious, formerly immortal Delphine LaLaurie is a good guess given her history with the ladies of “Coven,” and the fact that she’s been trapped in the afterlife, like so many of the characters on this list. The Oscar-winning “Misery” and “Titanic” actress also played pivotal roles in “Freak Show,” “Hotel,” “Roanoake” and “Apocalypse.”
Frances Conroy as Myrtle Snow
Another “Coven” must-have returning for what’s expected to be a brief cameo, Frances Conroy is confirmed to appear as the blazing-haired fan-favorite witch Myrtle Snow. First introduced in “Coven” as the Head of the Witch Counsil, Myrtle might end up having Madison beat for most deaths. In “Coven,” she was framed by Fiona for blinding Cordelia and burned at the stake for the crime, only to be resurrected by Misty and help prepare Cordelia for the seven wonders. However, once Cordelia became Supreme, she was forced to execute Myrtle for crimes she did commit, once again burning at the stake, this time, shouting “Balenciaga!” She returned again in “Apocalypse” to help defeat the Antichrist, but returned to the dead again after Mallory’s time-reversal spell.
Joey Pollari as Ben
Here we meet the first new character of Season 13, Ben, played by Joey Pollari. As a newcomer, Ben is still a bit of mystery, but Disney+ describes his character as “a new hospice worker, brought in and trained by none other than Constance Langdon herself, to care for a wealthy elderly patient with a mysterious past.”
Pollari’s previous credits include Apple TV’s “Sugar” and CBS’ “SEAL Team,” and more recently, he played Anthony Perkins in “Monster: The Ed Gein Story,” John Morse in “Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story,” as well as another Ryan Murphy production, “The Beauty.”
Paul Anthony Kelly
Hot off of his breakout roll as John F. Kennedy Jr. in “Love Story,” Paul Anthony Kelly is joining “American Horror Story” Season 13 as a mystery character, and we know even less about him than Ben, but he features prominently in preview images and he seems to be a fashion-forward new addition to the “AHS” character catalogue.
John Waters as Mr. Phibes
Season 13 also ads the inimitable John Waters to the lineup, a camp horror mashup made in … well, probably hell, based on what we know about the season’s plot so far. “I’ve always been trying to steal Vincent Price’s career,” Waters said when he announced his involvement in the season. In this case, that’s a bit literal. Waters is playing a “medical specialist extraordinaire,” Mr. Phibes – an overt reference to the Vincent Prince horror classic “The Abominable Mr. Phibes.”
Orlando Jones as Papa Legba
The extraordinarily powerful gatekeeper of the spiritual world, Papa Legba is back for Season 13, but with a new actor in the role. Previously played by the great Lance Reddick before his death in 2023, Papa Legba will now be played by “American Gods” and “Sleepy Hollow” star Orlando Jones.
As gatekeeper, Papa Legba is tasked with keeping the balance between life and death, and he’s always willing to make a deal for a soul. He tells it like it is when he makes those deals, but they often don’t turn out too well for the folks on the other side of the bargain, including Marie Laveau and Nan.
John Carroll Lynch as Twisty the Clown
One of the more enduring bits of imagery to come out of “American Horror Story” – and certainly one of the most outright horrific, Twisty the Clown is back for “AHS” 13. Played by prolific character actor John Caroll Lynch, who you may recognize for everything ranging from “Zodiac” to “The Drew Carey Show,” Twisty was exactly what he looks like: a killer clown, introduced in “Freak Show,” who got twisted up with the psychopathic Dandy Mott. However, when his soul was collected by the ghost of Edward Mordrake, we learned that there was a sad and pitiful story behind the monster.
Dropped on his head as a baby, Twisty was happy as a children’s clown, but a false rumor ruined his life and career, and when he unsuccesfully tried to shoot himself, he was left disfigured – hence, the big, scary smile mask. Hungry for the love he felt from children as a clown, he began kipnapping kids and killing their strict parents. Mordrake took pity on him and recruited him to his troupe of ghosts.
Mena Suvari as The Black Dahlia
Based on the horrific real-world murder victim, Elizabeth Short, known by the same moniker, The Black Dahlia is a ghostly resident of Murder House in “American Horror Story.” Introduced in “Murder House” and featured in the episode “Spooky Little Girl,” she was an aspiring actress short on money who went to the Murder House in the 1940s for under-the-table dental work, but died under anesthesia. After her death, she was mutilated by mad surgeon and Murder House builder Charles Montgomery (Matt Ross), and in her death, she was unsteady in her idenity as a ghost until the much more modern ghost of Ben Harmon’s lover, Hayden, told her about her murder’s legacy in culture.
Played by “American Pie” and “American Beauty” actress Mena Suvari, The Black Dahlia also briefly appeared in “Apocalypse,” when Ben walked in on Michael mutilating her ghost, just as Dr. Montgomery did in the past.
Alex Consani as Morwenna
A new witch in the Miss Robichaux coven, Morwenna remains a mystery for now. She’s played by model and influencer Alex Consani
Avantika as Ophelia
Ophelia is new telekenetic witch in the Miss Robichaux’s coven, played by atress Avantika, best known for playing Karen Shetty in the 2024 “Mean Girls.” Her credits also include “Not Suitable for Work,” “Tarot” and “Pretty Lethal.”
Madelaine Petsch as Kira
Nobody was expecting this character to stick around for the long haul, but Madelaine Petsch makes a welcome addition to the ever-expanding “AHS” cast list as the mysterious “Kira,” revealed in the opening scene to be Ben’s girlfriend, who indeed dies quite quickly. Petsch is best known for playing Cheryl Blossom (and a few other Blossoms) on “Riverdale,” and more recently led the three-part “The Strangers” remake.
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