American Horror Story Season 13 is officially going back to the witches.
Ryan Murphy has confirmed the new season is a continuation of Coven, and he also shared the first look at Jessica Lange returning as filming gets underway.
The image keeps the exact character details under wraps, but Murphy’s Instagram activity made the big takeaway clear: the witches are back.
Lange’s return is a big deal on its own. She has not appeared on the series since Apocalypse, and Murphy’s first-look photo shows her standing at a tall window in a shot that instantly feels like classic American Horror Story.
Interestingly enough, the image appears to hint at Constance Langdon again from Murder House, not at Fiona Goode, the all-powerful witch, but that part has not been explicitly confirmed by Murphy.
What he did confirm was the Coven connection. When a fan asked for a Coven extension and specifically mentioned wanting Angela Bassett’s Marie Laveau back, Murphy replied, “Done.”
Who is returning for Season 13
The announced Season 13 lineup includes Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe, and Leslie Grossman.
Update: First look at Sarah Paulson has been released:
Ariana Grande is the major new addition and will be making her American Horror Story debut. The season is set to premiere on Halloween 2026.
That cast alone is why fans immediately connected Season 13 to Coven and Apocalypse. A lot of the core names tied to the witches mythology are back in the mix, with Murphy now confirming the story is not just witch-adjacent but a direct continuation.
The history of the witches in American Horror Story
The witches first appeared in Coven, which was Season 3 of American Horror Story in 2013. FX labels Coven as the third installment, and the season centered on witchcraft in America and the young witches tied to Miss Robichaux’s Academy in New Orleans.
That season introduced the main witch mythology through Fiona Goode (Lange), Cordelia, Madison Montgomery, Queenie, Myrtle Snow, Misty Day, and Marie Laveau.
The Coven story did not fully disappear after that. Queenie crossed over into Hotel, where her fate at the Hotel Cortez later became an important part of the witches storyline. Apocalypse directly referenced that Cordelia had been unable to save her there.
The witches then returned in a major way in Apocalypse, which was Season 8 in 2018. That season served as a crossover between Murder House, Coven, and Hotel, and it brought the New Orleans coven back into the center of the franchise as they went up against Michael Langdon and the end of the world.
When we last saw the Coven witches
The last full time fans saw the witches together was in the Apocalypse finale in 2018. That episode brought the coven back into the final battle, returned Marie Laveau, and ended with Mallory resetting the timeline.
In the new timeline, Queenie was saved from the Hotel Cortez, Misty Day was brought back, and Madison’s rescue was left hanging as unfinished business.
So Season 13 is picking up a thread Murphy has been teasing for years. Back in 2018, he said the witches would return, and now he is finally paying that off with a direct Coven continuation instead of another quick cameo or crossover detour.
