American Horror Stories

American Horror Stories is a horror anthology series for FX on Hulu, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. It’s a direct spin-off of *American Horror Story* and the third show in the American Story franchise. While the original series usually devotes a whole season to one storyline (with one exception), this show changes its story every single episode—except for the first season’s two-part opener and its connected finale. Many actors from the original series return, almost always playing new characters. These include Matt Bomer, Celia Finkelstein, Naomi Grossman, John Carroll Lynch, Charles Melton, Billie Lourd, Chad James Buchanan, Cody Fern, Dylan McDermott, Jamie Brewer, Denis O’Hare, Matt Lasky, Gabourey Sidibe, Max Greenfield, Austin Woods, Seth Gabel, Rebecca Dayan, Cameron Cowperthwaite, Spencer Neville, Teddy Sears, Jeff Hiller, Casey Thomas Brown, and Nick Jacobs. The show debuted on Hulu on July 15, 2021, and became the most successful launch of any FX on Hulu series up to that point. Season two arrived in July 2022, and season three was split into two parts, released in October 2023 and October 2024. Each episode tells a self-contained horror story. Some episodes tie back to earlier *American Horror Story* seasons. For instance, “Rubber(wo)Man Part One,” “Rubber(wo)Man Part Two,” and “Game Over” connect to *Murder House*, while “Dollhouse” links to *Coven*. Murphy announced the spin-off on May 11, 2020, describing it as a series of standalone anthology episodes rather than a season-long arc. The first season has seven episodes. FX renewed it for an eight-episode second season on August 13, 2021. The next installment was first reported in May 2023, but production was affected by the Writers Guild of America strike. In August, it was revealed that four episodes would premiere on October 26 as a “Huluween” event. A further five episodes were reported in September 2024, set to premiere on October 15, 2024, as another “Huluween” event; *The Hollywood Reporter* referred to this as the fourth season. The first two episodes starred Matt Bomer, Gavin Creel, Sierra McCormick, Paris Jackson, Belissa Escobedo, Merrin Dungey, Selena Sloan, Ashley Martin Carter, Valerie Loo, Kaia Gerber, Aaron Tveit, and Celia Finkelstein.