American Horror Story (2011 — 2022)

American Horror Story is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. Each season is conceived as a self-contained miniseries, following a different set of characters and settings, and a story line with its own “beginning, middle, and end.” Some plot elements of each season are loosely inspired by true events. Many actors appear in more than one season, often playing a new character.

1) Murder House (2011). Set in 2011, the season follows the Harmons, consisting of wife and mother Vivien, her psychiatrist husband Ben, and their teenage daughter Violet, as they move from Boston to Los Angeles to make a fresh start after Vivien has a miscarriage. Soon after the miscarriage and before the move, Ben has an affair with one of his students, which almost tears the family apart. Cast: Connie Britton (Vivien Harmon), Dylan McDermott (Dr. Ben Harmon), Evan Peters (Tate Langdon), Taissa Farmiga (Violet Harmon), Denis O’Hare (Larry Harvey), Jessica Lange (Constance Langdon), Zachary Quinto (Chad Warwick).

2) Asylum (2012 – 2013). Set in 1964, the season follows the patients and staff members of the church-owned mental asylum Briarcliff Manor, located in an undisclosed town in Massachusetts, which was founded to treat and house the criminally insane. Kit Walker, accused of being a prolific serial killer named “Bloody Face” after the disappearance of his wife Alma —though he claims she was abducted by aliens—is incarcerated at Briarcliff. This piques the interest of ambitious lesbian journalist Lana Winters, who is yearning to find a story for her big break. Cast: Evan Peters (Kit Walker), Jessica Lange (Sister Jude Martin), Zachary Quinto (Dr. Oliver Thredson), Joseph Fiennes (Msgr. Timothy Howard), Sarah Paulson (Lana Winters), Lily Rabe (Sister Mary Eunice McKee), Lizzie Brocheré (Lizzie Brocheré), James Cromwell (Dr. Arthur Arden).

3) Coven (2013 – 2014). Set in 2013, the season follows the dwindling descendants of the witches who survived the Salem witch trials and their struggle to hide their identity in the modern world. Those who share this genetic affliction are being subjected to violent attacks from outside forces, such as voodoo practitioners. Zoe Benson, a young teenager completely unaware of the existence of witches, discovers her identity as a Salem descendant after a violent accident that causes the death of her boyfriend. She is sent to an all-girls boarding school in New Orleans which aims to protect and house young women who carry this unique bloodline, and keep them from the dangers of the outside world. Cast: Evan Peters (Kyle Spencer), Taissa Farmiga (Zoe Benson), Denis O’Hare (Spalding), Jessica Lange (Fiona Goode), Sarah Paulson (Cordelia Goode), Lily Rabe (Misty Day), Frances Conroy (Myrtle Snow), Emma Roberts (Madison Montgomery), Kathy Bates (Delphine LaLaurie).

4) Freak Show (2014 – 2015). Set in 1952, the season follows a struggling freak show led by Elsa Mars in the sleepy town of Jupiter, Florida. Decades have passed since the public has looked upon freak shows as a form of entertainment, but Elsa dreams of finding a home for her “monsters,” as well as for her own fame and fortune. Other members of her troupe include “Lobster Boy” Jimmy Darling, who dreams of living a normal life, and his mother Ethel, a bearded lady who acts as Elsa’s second-in-command by maintaining law and order under the tent. Cast: Evan Peters (Jimmy Darling), Denis O’Hare (Stanley), Jessica Lange (Elsa Mars), Sarah Paulson (Bette Tattler / Dot Tattler), Lily Rabe (Sister Mary Eunice McKee), Frances Conroy (Gloria Mott), Emma Roberts (Maggie Esmerelda), Kathy Bates (Ethel Darling), Michael Chiklis (Dell Toledo), Finn Wittrock (Dandy Mott), Angela Bassett (Desiree Dupree).

5) Hotel (2015 – 2016). Set in 2015, the season follows the strange and dangerous happenings that seem to center around the retro Hotel Cortez in downtown Los Angeles, California, initially built as a secret torture chamber to fulfill the violent desires of founder James Patrick March. Detective John Lowe arrives at the hotel, based on intel from an anonymous tip, to investigate a grisly string of murders, each of which exemplify a sin in violation of one of the Ten Commandments. He has become estranged from his wife Alex, who suffers from depression, and his daughter Scarlett, after the disappearance of their son Holden five years earlier. Cast: Evan Peters (James Patrick March), Denis O’Hare (Liz Taylor), Sarah Paulson (Sally McKenna / Billie Dean Howard), Kathy Bates (Iris), Angela Bassett (Ramona Royale), Wes Bentley (Det. John Lowe), Matt Bomer (Donovan), Chloë Sevigny (Dr. Alex Lowe), Cheyenne Jackson (Will Drake), Lady Gaga (The Countess).

6) Roanoke (2016). Set in 2014–2016, the season follows the supernatural events that occur in a renovated farmhouse in North Carolina, which is situated on the land where the Roanoke Colony moved after their infamous 1580s disappearance. In 2015, Shelby Miller, her husband Matt, along with Matt’s sister Lee Harris recount their harrowing experience living in the farmhouse a year prior in a popular documentary series titled My Roanoke Nightmare, including their encounters with the violent and vengeful ghosts of the house’s previous residents and the Roanoke Colony, the cannibalistic Polk family who live nearby, and the seductive English witch, Scathach. Cast: Evan Peters (Edward Philipe / MottRory Monahan), Denis O’Hare (Dr. Elias Cunningham / William van Henderson), Sarah Paulson (Shelby Miller / Audrey Tindall / Lana Winters), Lily Rabe (Shelby Miller), Kathy Bates (The Butcher / Agnes Mary Winstead), Angela Bassett (Lee Harris / Monet Tumusiime), Wes Bentley (Ambrose White / Dylan), Cheyenne Jackson (Sidney Aaron James), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Matt Miller / Dominic Banks), André Holland (Matt Miller).

7) Cult (2017). Set in 2016 and 2017, the fictional town of Brookfield Heights, Michigan, is left divided in the wake of Donald Trump’s election as president. Local restaurant owner Ally Mayfair-Richards is left utterly distraught, along with her wife Ivy. Despite the help of her psychiatrist, Dr. Rudy Vincent, Ally becomes increasingly unstable in the following weeks, as her long-repressed phobias begin to re-emerge, and they begin to affect her relationships with her wife and their son, Oz. Across town, misogynistic alt-righter Kai Anderson rejoices at the election results, enticing him to pursue political power by running for city council. Cast: Evan Peters (Kai Anderson), Sarah Paulson (Ally Mayfair-Richards / Susan Atkins), Cheyenne Jackson (Dr. Rudy Vincent), Billie Lourd (Winter Anderson / Linda Kasabian), Alison Pill (Ivy Mayfair-Richards).

8) Apocalypse (2018). Set in the near future, the Antichrist, Michael Langdon brings about the apocalypse by instigating nuclear warfare. The chosen survivors of the aftermath, heiress Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt, her personal assistant Mallory, hairstylist Mr. Malcolm Gallant, his grandmother Evie, talk-show host Dinah Stevens, Stevens’ son Andre, young adults Timothy Campbell and Emily, among others, take refuge in a fallout shelter named “Outpost 3”, run with an iron fist by Wilhemina Venable and Miriam Mead along with The Fist, a brutish and tall female guard. Cast: Evan Peters (Mr. Gallant / James Patrick March / Tate Langdon / Jeff Pfister), Sarah Paulson (Wilhemina Venable / Cordelia Goode / Billie Dean Howard), Emma Roberts (Madison Montgomery), Kathy Bates (Miriam Mead / Delphine LaLaurie), Cheyenne Jackson (John Henry Moore), Billie Lourd (Mallory), Adina Porter (Dinah Stevens), Leslie Grossman (Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt), Cody Fern (Michael Langdon).

9) 1984 (2019). Set in the titular year of 1984, the season follows Brooke Thompson as she travels to a remote, newly reopened summer camp, known as Camp Redwood, to work as a counselor following a terrifying encounter with serial killer Richard Ramirez. Those traveling with Brooke include preppy Xavier Plympton, athletic Chet Clancy, easy-going Ray Powell, and spunky Montana Duke. Upon arriving at the camp, they encounter its owner, the deeply religious Margaret Booth, who was once a camper there, and who has her own experience surviving a killer. Cast: Emma Roberts (Brooke Thompson), Billie Lourd (Montana Duke), Leslie Grossman (Margaret Booth), Cody Fern (Xavier Plympton), Matthew Morrison (Trevor Kirchner), Gus Kenworthy (Chet Clancy), John Carroll Lynch (Benjamin Richter), Angelica Ross (Donna Chambers), Zach Villa (Richard Ramirez).

10) Double Feature: Red Tide (2021). Set in 2020, a struggling writer, his pregnant wife, and their daughter move to an isolated beach town for the winter. Once they’re settled in, the town’s true residents begin to make themselves known. A quick fix for Harry’s writer’s block has unexpected side effects. Two eccentric locals and offer Harry a helping hand. The season will be divided into two parts: Red Tide, which takes place “by the sea”, and Death Valley, which takes place “by the sand”. Cast (Red Tide): Sarah Paulson (TB Karen), Evan Peters (Austin), Lily Rabe (Doris Gardener), Frances Conroy (Belle Noir), Finn Wittrock (Harry Gardener), Billie Lourd (Lark), Leslie Grossman (Ursula), Adina Porter (Chief Burleson), Angelica Ross (The Chemist), Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Lola Gardener), Macaulay Culkin (Mickey).

10) Double Feature: Death Valley (2021). Cast: Neal McDonough (Dwight Eisenhower), Sarah Paulson (Mamie Eisenhower), Lily Rabe (Amelia Earhart), Leslie Grossman (Calico), Angelica Ross (Theta), Kaia Gerber (Kendall Carr), Nico Greetham (Cal Cambon), Isaac Powell (Troy Lord), Rachel Hilson (Jamie Howard), Rebecca Dayan (Maria Wycoff).