Wait, How Many Seasons Are in the American Horror Story Now?

You're sitting on the couch, scrolling through Hulu or Disney+, and you see that familiar, spindly font. It's been over a decade since Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk first invited us into a basement in Los Angeles, and honestly, it’s getting hard to keep track of the body count. If you are trying to figure out how many seasons are in the American Horror Story franchise before you commit to a binge-watch, the answer isn't just a simple number—it's a whole timeline of shifting casts, interconnected universes, and a few seasons that probably should have stayed in the writers' room.

As of right now, there are 12 completed seasons of the flagship series.

Twelve. That is a massive amount of television for an anthology. Most shows lose steam by year four, but AHS functions like a phoenix that occasionally forgets how to fly but keeps lighting itself on fire anyway. We recently wrapped up Delicate, which was a weird departure for the show because it was the first time they adapted a book (Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine) rather than writing an original nightmare.

The Evolution of the Anthology

When people ask how many seasons are in the American Horror Story lineup, they often forget that the show changed the entire landscape of TV. Before 2011, "anthology" meant The Twilight Zone. It didn't mean a recurring troupe of actors like Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, and Jessica Lange playing different characters every year.

The first season, now retroactively titled Murder House, was a massive gamble. It was messy. It was perverse. It had a man in a rubber suit. It worked because it felt dangerous. Then came Asylum, which many die-hard fans—myself included—consider the peak of the entire run. It managed to mix aliens, Nazis, serial killers, and demonic possession without completely collapsing under its own weight.

Tracking the Twelve Seasons

If you're looking for a quick breakdown of what you're getting into, here is the roadmap of the 12 seasons currently out in the wild.

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The early years were the "Lange Era." Murder House (Season 1) gave us the classic haunted house trope. Asylum (Season 2) took us to Briarcliff Manor. Coven (Season 3) shifted the tone toward camp and high fashion in New Orleans, introducing us to the iconic "Surprise, bitch" meme. Freak Show (Season 4) was Jessica Lange's swan song, a tragic, neon-soaked look at a traveling troupe in the 1950s.

Then things got... experimental.

Hotel (Season 5) brought in Lady Gaga, which was a huge cultural moment but felt a bit hollow for some fans. Roanoke (Season 6) tried a "show-within-a-show" documentary style that split the audience down the middle. Cult (Season 7) skipped the supernatural stuff entirely to focus on the 2016 election and clown-masked neighbors. Apocalypse (Season 8) was pure fan service, finally crossing over Murder House and Coven.

The later years have been a bit of a rollercoaster. 1984 (Season 9) was a fun slasher tribute. Double Feature (Season 10) gave us two stories for the price of one—vampire-ish writers and aliens—though the alien half was admittedly a bit of a disaster. NYC (Season 11) was a somber, gritty look at the 1980s AIDS crisis disguised as a leather-bar slasher. Finally, Delicate (Season 12) brought in Kim Kardashian, which, love it or hate it, kept the show in the headlines.

What About the Spinoffs?

This is where the "how many seasons" question gets a little tricky. If you see people talking about more than 12 seasons, they are likely including American Horror Stories (plural).

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That’s the spinoff. It’s an episodic anthology, meaning every single episode is a different story. It currently has three seasons of its own. It’s a mixed bag. Some episodes return to Murder House, while others deal with killer AI or cursed film screenings. It’s basically the "snack" version of the main show.

There is also American Sports Story and American Crime Story. While they share the "American Story" branding and the Ryan Murphy DNA, they aren't part of the horror count. They are their own beasts. Don't go looking for ghosts in the OJ Simpson trial.

Is There a Season 13?

Yes. FX has already renewed the show for a 13th season. There is something poetic about American Horror Story reaching lucky number 13. While we don't have a theme or a cast list yet, rumors are constantly swirling. Fans are dying for a return to the "old guard"—people want Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters back in the fold.

There's no official release date for Season 13 yet, but given the production cycles we've seen lately, we are likely looking at a late 2025 or early 2026 premiere. The gap between NYC and Delicate was skewed by the strikes, so the schedule is still a bit wobbly.

Why the Order Actually Matters

You can technically watch these in any order. That’s the beauty of it. But if you want the full experience, you should know that Murphy has confirmed they all exist in a shared universe.

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Pepper from Asylum shows up in Freak Show. The real estate agent from Murder House pops up in Hotel. The witches from Coven basically take over Apocalypse. If you jump straight into Season 8 without seeing Seasons 1 and 3, you're going to be incredibly confused why everyone is cheering for a girl in a black hat.

How to Approach Your Binge

If you're diving in for the first time, don't feel pressured to finish a season if you aren't feeling it. The show's greatest strength—and its biggest weakness—is that it resets every year. If you hate the gore of Hotel, you might love the political tension of Cult.

• For the scares: Watch Asylum or Roanoke.
• For the aesthetic: Watch Coven or Hotel.
• For the nostalgia: Watch 1984.
• For a serious drama: Watch NYC.

Honestly, the "best" season is a fierce debate in the fandom. Ask ten people and you'll get ten different rankings.

The fact that we are even talking about how many seasons are in the American Horror Story catalog after 14 years is a testament to its staying power. It has outlived almost all of its contemporaries. It survived the transition from cable dominance to the streaming era. It survived major cast departures. It even survived a season about aliens that ended in a desert.

If you are planning to start, start at the beginning. Murder House is the foundation. It’s where the rules of this weird, dark world were written. From there, you can bounce around. Just remember that once you enter the Ryan Murphy-verse, logic takes a backseat to style and "vibes." And usually, that's more than enough.

To keep your watch party on track, keep a tab on FX's official press releases or the show's Instagram. They usually drop cryptic teasers months in advance. If you've already finished all 12 seasons and the spinoffs, your next move is to check out the "Best of" collections on Hulu, which often group episodes by theme—like "slasher" or "supernatural"—to give you a curated horror experience without the 10-hour commitment.