Ryan Murphy has listened to American Horror Story fans and is bringing back some OG favorites — and another major star is joining the cast.
The TV mogul, 59, celebrated Halloween with a huge AHS announcement via Instagram, revealing that Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe and Leslie Grossman would be back for the show’s milestone 13th season.
Murphy’s announcement also revealed that Ariana Grande would be joining the show’s cast as well. Grande, 32, previously worked with Murphy — along with Roberts and Lourd — in the short-lived series Scream Queens, which ran for two seasons from 2015 to 2016.
Further details about the upcoming AHS season have yet to be revealed, but fans are convinced that the song Murphy paired with his announcement — Vera Lynn’s “I’ll Be Seeing You” — is a hint of what’s to come. Some speculated that it was a reference to the anthology series’ third season, Coven, which featured several of the returning cast members as witches — and what a fitting Halloween announcement that would be.
AHS premiered on FX in October 2011 and quickly became a fan-favorite horror franchise with much speculation surrounding the theme of each season.
Viewers have been waiting for Lange’s return to the franchise since her last main cast role in season 4, where she played Elsa Mars in Freak Show. The Oscar winner, 76, briefly returned in season 8 (Apocalypse) for a cameo as Constance Langdon, her character from the show’s first season (Murder House).
Friday’s announcement comes after Peters, 38, spoke candidly about his desire to return to the series on several red carpets as of late, especially after he teamed up with Paulson, 50, at the 2025 Emmys to present an award.
The two actors made a joke about Peters possibly returning for season 13 and even locked eyes with Murphy in the crowd.
“Gotta call Ryan,” Peters teased to Entertainment Tonight in an interview late last month. “Gotta talk to him and see what’s going on with that. So, maybe we’ll get on that.”
The upcoming AHS season marks the first time Peters and Murphy have collaborated since Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in 2022.
While it’s not hard to remember recurring favorites on American Horror Story like Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson and Jessica Lange, the same can’t be said for one season — or even one episode — guest stars, such as Adam Levine, Jenna Dewan and Naomi Campbell. Lena Dunham, for example, starred in one episode of Cult […]
“I have known Evan and been friends with him for over ten years,” Murphy said of Peters in a since-deleted Instagram post from 2022. “I first met him when he auditioned to play Jessica Lange’s son Tate on the very first season of American Horror Story. After their first scene together Jessica said to me ‘This kid is incredible.’”
He added, “He is now — as he was then — the sweetest, kindest person and an absolute consumate [sic] professional who gives 200 percent.”
Murphy specifically praised Peters’ performance as Jeffrey Dahmer.
“With his role as Jeffrey Dahmer, he’s shown the world that he really is one of our industry’s best actors,” the producer concluded at the time. “His talent is raw and extreme and disciplined and to me he’s like a young DeNiro [sic] or DiCaprio — just one of the greatest of all time. Congratulations to Evan on an incredible year.”
