If you've somehow avoided American Horror Story for the last 15 years, here's the basic idea: every season is its own horror story, with a different setting, characters and plot. One season is a haunted house. Another is a coven of witches with a Stevie Nicks feature. Another is a hotel full of vampires, ghosts, and Lady Gaga. 

But the fun part is that they're not completely separate.

Actors come back in different roles. Characters return. Stories connect. A house from one season can suddenly matter four seasons later. Eventually, the entire show starts to feel like one giant, completely unhinged universe.

And some of those actors became AHS icons in their own right. Which is why this new season feels like a pretty big deal. 

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The first three episodes of American Horror Story Season 13 dropped September 24 and apparently we have already decided the season is terrible. The complaints are everywhere: It’s confusing. It’s cringe. Nothing makes sense. The episodes are way too short.

And listen, do I have any idea what is going on?

No.

Am I here for every second of it?

1000% yes.

Maybe I’m just not interested in solving the AHS plot like it’s a group project. I’m having fun. Because for the first time in a while, American Horror Story actually feels like American Horror Story again.

We're getting familiar faces. Old characters. References to seasons we've spent years obsessing over. Characters who were dead, gone, or seemingly retired are suddenly back on our screens. And honestly? I'm going to enjoy it. 

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This is the part I think these complainers are overlooking.

For the past few years, AHS kept moving forward. New stories, new characters, new casts. And while that's always been part of the show's formula, something was missing. The early seasons had this weird magic where you could never be completely sure what, or who, might come back.

Season 13 is leaning all the way back into that.

Sarah Paulson is back. Evan Peters is back. Emma Roberts is back. Angela Bassett is back. Familiar characters are showing up again. Even characters who have been gone for years are suddenly part of the story.

And then there's Jessica Lange.

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And not just as some random new character. She’s back as Constance Langdon, the southern diva from the very first season, a character that helped make American Horror Story the phenomenon it became in the first place. After leaving the show years ago, Lange made it pretty clear she had no interest in returning. In 2025, when asked if she would return for Season 13, her response was essentially: absolutely not. She literally said, "Oh Christ, no."

And now, after 12 years, she’s here. That alone feels a little insane.

Even better, she's not just playing Constance. Lange is reprising all four of her major AHS characters: Constance Langdon, Sister Jude, Fiona Goode and Elsa Mars.

Like...what?

This is the same woman who told us she wasn't coming back. Honestly, I don't know what Ryan Murphy had to promise her, but I'm glad he figured it out.

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This is why I'm having a hard time joining the complaining.

Is the season confusing? Sure. Is some of it ridiculous? Obviously. This is American Horror Story. We're talking about a show that has given us demon babies, alien abductions, a murderous Santa and a hotel run by Lady Gaga. We're not exactly dealing with prestige television here.

But that's part of the appeal.

AHS has always been campy, weird, dramatic and completely unhinged. You weren't supposed to sit there with a spreadsheet trying to figure out the mythology. You were supposed to watch Jessica Lange walk into a room and think, “oh my god, that's mother.” 

And now we're getting that again. Maybe I’m being overly optimistic. Maybe I just have too much nostalgia attached to this show to be objective about it. But I think three episodes is a little early to declare anything. I want to see where this goes. 

Maybe all these callbacks and familiar faces are leading somewhere brilliant. Maybe they’re not. Maybe in a few weeks I’ll be writing a completely different article about how Season 13 lost the plot.

Honestly, I’m okay with either. For now, I’m going to sit back, enjoy the chaos, and manifest a Stevie Nicks appearance. If it flops, it flops. But I’m not calling it yet.

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