American Horror Storyhas come a long way since it premiered in October 2011. More than a decade after its initial release, the show remains popular and a staple on FX. Audiences are always eager to hear what theme each season will be centered on. The franchise has continued to grow as fans swarmed for the release ofAmerican Horror Stories,a miniseries based on the events of the original, which has been renewed for a second season. This has become a reliable franchise for horror fans.
Update June 29, 2025: This article has been updated to reflect the recent season ofAmerican Horror Story, as well as news regarding the upcoming season,Delicate.
American Horror Storyseason 12 is titledDelicateand will feature returning favorite Emma Roberts joined by newcomers including Michael Jaé Rodriguez, Cara Delivine, andKim Kardashian. The series, however, seems to have been delayed as production shut down due to the 2023 Writer’s Strike. While audiences wait for the new season, now is the perfect time to catch up on the series. Whether you’re anAmerican Horror StoryOG fan looking to reminisce on all the horror stories that have been told, or you are a self-diagnosed scaredy-cat looking to spoil the ending before givingAHSa chance, here is everyAmerican Horror Storyseason-ending explained.
11Murder House
American Horror Story: Murder Houseshocked audiences with its premiere; never before had a series been so forthcoming with horror on network television.Murder Housetells the story of the Harmon family, Vivien (Connie Britton) and Ben (Dylan McDermott), who move to Los Angeles following a miscarriage and crumbling marriage, and their lovely daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga). The story takes place in theiconic Murder House, a beautiful home the Harmons buy for cheap–– no one has touched the house because of its rep as the home where grizzly murders took place.
Excitement about this fresh start quickly turns to despair as the Harmons learn they are being haunted by ghosts who had been murdered within the house. One way or another, each member of the Harmon family is killed, and their spirits are trapped in the house forever. When Violet discovers that her lover Tate committed a school shooting and was the Rubber Man, a ghastly figure that had been terrorizing her parents within the house, she overdoses on pills and becomes a ghost in the house.
Ben, trying to escape the house, is targeted by his mistress (Kate Mara) and other ghosts and is murdered. Vivien gives birth to twins before dying. One takes a single breath within the house and dies after birth, and the other lives as the Antichrist. Those souls are condemned to living in that house despite any efforts to right their wrongs.
WhereMurder Housetaught audiences that you could successfully pull off a horror TV show,American Horror Story: Asylumproved that the writers could pull off a successful anthology series. Season two revolves around the abandoned Briarcliff Manor in rural Massachusetts from two different timelines; in the 60s and the present day. In 1964, A tuberculosis ward turned mental asylum, and Briarcliff becomes run by the Catholic Church. Journalist Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) enters the ward to learn about a serial killer known as Bloody Face–– a figure that had been terrorizing explorers of the abandoned facility. During one of her journalistic explorations, Lana is locked in the asylum by Sister Jude (Jessica Lange), where she endures torture.
Related:American Horror Story: Every Season, Ranked
During her time in the insane asylum, Lana discovers Bloody Face is none other than Dr. Thredson (Zachary Quinto), an evil employee of the asylum who routinely assaulted Lana and other female patients he deemed not “motherly.” Lana eventually murders Dr. Thredson, but not before discovering that she is pregnant with his baby. Horrified and traumatized by her experiences, Lana abandons her baby.
After escaping the mental asylum, Lana writes a successful book based on her experiences at Briancliff, exposing the asylum for its inhuman treatment of patients, and gets the facility shut down. Yet, the horrors of Briarcliff aren’t completely done with; it is revealed in the present day that the neo-Bloody Face –– a violent figure attempting to copy the original murderer of 1964–– is the abandoned son of Lana and Dr. Thredson. When Lana discovers this, she eventually connects with her son, deceives him, and kills him. After becoming a victim of the things she once wished to report as a starry-eyed journalist, perhaps she wonders if it was ever worth investigating in the first place.
An allegory of the Salem Witch Trials and oppression,American Horror Story: Covencenters around a school for witches in New Orleans and includes a much more flowery and happy ending. After learning she is a witch, Zoe Benson (Taissa Farmiga) is enrolled in Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies. At the academy, the witches must learn to fight for their survival while mastering their skills in magic.
During this time, the Supreme Witch, Fiona Goode (Lange), becomes ill. Aging rapidly and losing her magic, this is a surefire signal that a new Supreme Witch is rising and vying for her coveted position. As a result, the witches of the academy are led to the test of the Seven Wonders to crown the new Supreme. Known for her vanity, Fiona fights tooth and nail to murder the rising supreme, desperate to maintain her youth. Her fate is sealed, however, when she is diagnosed with cancer and, in a conspicuous conclusion, her daughter, Cordelia (Paulson), becomes the new Supreme Witch after taking the test of the Seven Wonders.
A new coven council is raised in which Zoe and fellow witch Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) are seated. Cordelia reveals the existence of the academy to the outside world and reopens it under new leadership. She hopes that allowing openness of their beings can help build an understanding for those who fear them and never allow the passing of power to be violent ever again. After so much violence, it appears that all is well thatends well for these witches.
8Freak Show
American Horror Story: Freak Showweaves several stories of the “freaks”–– the collection of circus workers who have mental and physical abnormalities–– and their liberation. Set in 1950s Florida, a fame-obsessed show manager Elsa Mars (Lange), struggles to keep her freak show alive. She discovers conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler (Paulson) and attempts to recruit them into her freak show in hopes of revitalizing it.
Unfortunately for the freaks, Elsa does not have their best interest at heart. Obsessed with achieving her own stardom and success, she sells her freak show to a tyrannical, wealthy man Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock). The narcissistic psychopath ends up murdering members of the troupe in a rampage. Dedicated to helping her fellow freaks, Bette and Dot agree to marry Dandy in order to help the surviving members avenge their troupe members and kill Dandy. Eventually, Dot and Bette find themselves pregnant and happily married to Jimmy (Evan Peters), a fellow member of the freak show.
Meanwhile, in Hollywood, Elsa achieves stardom but is hollowed by it. After learning of the deaths of the troupe, Elsa wishes to join them in the afterlife. She reveals that what she really sought after was a sense of belonging. Their troupe is reunited as a true family in the afterlife. Her obsession with fame and ego caused her to “other” her troupe members and separate herself as not one of them, but what she truly wanted, she had all along.
Based on the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles, detective John Lowe (Wes Bentley) investigates Hotel Cortez, run by a ravenous and seductive vampire named the Countess (Lady Gaga), where some mysterious events have occurred. Unlike previous seasons,American Horror Story: Hotel’splot is directly linked to the seasons before it, revealing how all the stories in AHS are a part of the same universe. Thus, similar to the “laws” in season one’sMurder House, people who die in the hotel become trapped as ghosts there forever.
The season includes multiple villainous characters residing in The Cortez. Designed by infamous murderer James March, the hotel is haunted by March, who continues to terrorize and murder guests at the hotel. Alongside March are foil characters Sally McKenna (Sarah Paulson), a lonely ghost. Sally longs for her partners to stay and is desperate for companionship. The Countess, on the other side, thirsts for more and cannot be satisfied with just one, consistently finding lovers and sucking them dry of blood. Sally is shown the concept of social media by Iris (Kathy Bates), which seems to fill her void of longingness and set her on a path of joy and peace. Meanwhile, the Countess is shot down and killed in the hotel, her spirit trapped there forever with her ex-lover, James March (Peters), who becomes possessive of her. March strips The Countess of her desires and prevents her from being with the man she truly loves.
Elsewhere, Liz Taylor (Denis O’Hare), an old transgender bartender at the hotel, reunites with her son and learns she is a grandmother. She hopes that the world her granddaughter is born into is more accepting than that of her own. She decides to die in the hotel so that she may be reunited with her family–– the ghosts and vampires that reside in the hotel–– signaling a “rebirth” for her character.
Set as a reality series in North Carolina,American Horror Story: Roanoketakes inspiration from the real-lifeRoanoke colony disappearance. In the first half of the season, the ‘reality show’ places characters into a reenactment of strange events that took place inside a farmhouse. The second half deals with how the filming of season two of said reality show devolves into mayhem and violence. Rigged with hidden cameras prepared for filming, the farmhouse captures the real violence enacted on the reality stars by the resident Polk family.
Related:American Horror Story: Best Performances in the Series, Ranked
The ending of this season, in which most of the cast dies, alludes to the way live television can capture without limits. While the reality TV show attempted to feign a version of the Roanoke story, the cameras told a more objective truth. It may also be the spirits of Roanoke wanting to be seen by the public to tell the viewers they never disappeared.
Airing July 16, 2025,American Horror Story:Cultwas directly inspired by the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and the followings of the Trump era. Ridden with clowns, bigotry, and so many phobias you definitely didn’t know existed, this plot line does not shy away from metaphors and symbolism.
Ally (Paulson) is an intelligent but fearful woman who, after the election of President Trump, is put on intense psychiatric meds by her psychiatrist. The meds make her hallucinate ominous clowns, or so she has convinced herself; there is a chance these clowns are real, as a series of clowns end up murdering a fellow council member. The murder leads to an open seat on the general council for their city’s district, which Kai (Evan Peters) runs for. An excentric populist with a growing cult behind him, Kai gains the seat.
Working with the FBI, Ally joins Kai’s cult to bring it down from the inside. When Kai reveals his plan to kill 100 pregnant women, she tips off the FBI, ultimately landing him in jail. However, Kai rebuilds his community within the prison and, with their help, eventually escapes. After hearing that Ally has made a bid for the senate, he then interrupts a televised senate debate between Ally and her political opponent. He pulls a gun on Ally and pulls the trigger but finds the barrel empty. Ally then takes the opportunity and kills Kai. She later moves on to win the senate seat.
4Apocalypse
American Horror Story: Apocalypseis acombination of the first and third seasonsset in the “near” future. We see the return of the Antichrist from season one (Cody Fern) and some of the witches fromAmerican Horror Story:Coven. This season acts as a redemption for many characters, revisiting them in their original locations, like Miss Robichaux’s Academy for Witches. Some are brought back to life, while some are not. Mostly, however, there is a sense of empowerment we see with the Coven witches who free humanity from the apocalypse.
In the world of magic, witches are viewed as more powerful than warlocks. This changes when Michael Langdon, the Antichrist, rises to power and takes the Seven Wonders test. Crowned Supreme of all witches and warlocks, he eventually brings on the apocalypse. Mallory (Billie Lourd) is the only witch with enough power to stop him. Cordelia, the previous Supreme, realizes Mallory’s powers and assigns her a time travel spell. Mallory goes back in time to when Michael was young, not yet aware of his powers, and runs him over with her car–– several times. By undoing the apocalypse, the events of the season are also undone, showing that the evil is never resolved nor vanquished.
Payinghomage to vintage slasher films,American Horror Story: 1984begins in Camp Redwood with a mysterious killer known as the “Night Stalker” on the loose. Desperate to escape their mundane lives, a group of friends finds jobs as councilors at Camp Redwood. Quickly, the group discovers that the campsite was the location of a grotesque massacre at the hands of the director Margaret (Leslie Grossmann). The councilors find themselves in yet another one of Margaret’s killing sprees, sending them all into purgatory on the campgrounds. Margaret blames the murders on Benjamin Richter (John Carroll Lynch), escaping justice for her crimes.
All seems lost–– until the present day. Bobby Richter, son of the wrongly accused Benjamin, goes to the abandoned campsite in search of answers. He discovers the ghosts of the camp councilors, who explain his father’s innocence, as well as how they killed Margaret, the woman who was actually responsible. Now a ghost, Margaret, arrives and attempts to murder Bobby. His father, Benjamin, who is also a ghost, stops Margaret with the help of the dead councilors. The father and son joyfully embrace after many years of solitude.
This self-aware season not only works to build on the lore ofAmerican Horror Storyas a franchise but to create something fresh in the horror genre. By using familiar tropes, visuals, and ideas the audience comes to expect, Murphy fills in the gray areas to modernize what we know as horror, allowing us to relate more as an audience.
2Double Feature
American Horror Story: Double Featurepacks two new stories in one. The first half of the season, known asRed Tide, tells the story of vampiric creatures hiding along the shores of P-Town, Massachusetts. The second half,Death Valley, speculates on the existence of aliens and their role in major U.S. politics.
Red Tidefocuses on the Gardner family, who discover a pill that either gives you outstanding creative talents. However, to have more talent, the Gardners must pay a price; their own humanity. Married couple Doris and Harry Gardner (Lily Rabe and Finn Wittrock, respectively) and their daughter Alma (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) all take these pills and quickly devolve into a state of madness. Harry is able to churn out a pilot series he’d been working on, a show which is picked up by Netflix with Joaquin Phoenix to star. And yet, Harry quickly gets the taste for blood,turning into a vampire. Alma finds her own creative talents–– and also can’t stop feeding on animals. Eventually, all three devolve into their basic instinct; murdering others for their blood. A previous friend of the Gardner family, Belle, sees the impact of these pills. She tries to stop their release but is quickly murdered by the Gardner family. The pill is sold in mass to the United States.
Death Valleydeals with the colonization of aliens on Earth. Hoping to save their own race from extinction, aliens attempt to integrate into human society. After discovering aliens have been to Earth, President Eisenhower signs a treaty with these aliens; they are allowed to abduct up to 5,000 humans in exchange for alien technology. However, Eisenhower now struggles with the unintended consequences of said deal. Aliens are now procreating with humans to create superior offspring. Eventually, a woman named Kendall (Kaia Gerber) gives birth to the perfect alien-human hybrid, Calico (Leslie Grossman). Calico is given the task of continuing the procreation of the alien-human cross-species, so the aliens can eventually destroy the human race and take over the planet. Discovering their plan, several humans, including Eisenhower’s wife, attempt to stop this. They are all thwarted and killed as Calico continues to breed new hybrids.
