“American Horror Story” has been renewed for three more seasons, taking the franchise to Season 13, FX announced Thursday.
“Ryan [Murphy] and Brad [Falchuk] are the undisputed masters of horror TV, having created the anthological limited series with ‘American Horror Story’ and sustaining its success for nearly a decade as FX’s highest-rated series,” said John Landgraf, chairman, FX Prods. and FX Networks. “We are grateful to them and Dana Walden and our studio partners for committing to another three years. ‘American Horror Story’ has showcased a wealth of award winning actors since day one and we appreciate the contributions of everyone, including Ryan, Brad and fellow executive producers Tim Minear, James Wong, Alexis Martin Woodall and Bradley Buecker; the writers; directors; cast and crew for each new, unforgettable installment of ‘American Horror Story.’”
The most recent installment of “American Horror Story” was subtitled “1984” and took place at a campground that became a murder ground. It ran for nine episodes during the fall of 2019 and averaged 2.85 million total live viewers.
Although “American Horror Story” is categorized as an anthology series that explores a different horror theme for each installment, the eighth installment, “Apocalypse,” did temporarily reclassify the show as a drama series when it came to awards season due to the fact that it returned to characters and settings from previous seasons.
“I think we’re really fortunate that he still loves it because he has so many things on his plate,” Landgraf said at the Television Critics Assn. press tour panel for the network Thursday. “He surprises me by telling me what it’s going to be. Somehow it feels really poetic to me that ‘American Horror Story’ is going to have 13 seasons; that just felt right.”
Landgraf admitted that Murphy has not yet told him what these three new seasons announced Thursday will be about.
The “American Horror Story” franchise kicked off in 2011 with the “Murder House” installment. Throughout its nine installments thus far, “American Horror Story” has averaged almost 10 million total viewers per episode across linear and non-linear platforms. The series hit its 100th episode milestone during the “1984” installment. Across all of these installments, “American Horror Story” has been nominated for 95 Emmy Awards, winning 16 trophies at the various Creative Arts and Primetime ceremonies over the last eight years. It has also been nominated for nine Golden Globe Awards and two WGA Awards. The second installment, “Asylum,” earned an AFI TV Program of the Year honor in 2012.
FX also announced premiere dates for its spring originals. “Breeders,” a 10-episode comedy about parenting starring Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard, will launch with two back-to-back episodes Mar. 2 at 10 p.m. on the linear network and then stream next day on FX on Hulu; “Dave,” the 10-episode comedy from Dave Burd aka Lil Dicky, will premiere two back-to-back episodes Mar. 4 at 10 p.m. on FXX and stream the next day on FX on Hulu; “Devs,” the eight-episode limited series from Alex Garland will launch with two back-to-back episodes on Mar. 5 exclusively on FX on Hulu; “Better Things” Season 4 will premiere with two back-to-back episodes Mar. 5 at 10 p.m. on the linear FX network and then stream next-day on FX on Hulu; the second season of “Cake” will premiere with two back-to-back episodes Mar. 5 at 10 p.m. on FXX and then stream next day on FX on Hulu; new docuseries “The Most Dangerous Animal of All” about a man who thinks his biological father was the Zodiac killer will premiere with two back-to-back episodes Mar. 6 at 10 p.m. on the linear network and then stream next-day on FX on Hulu; “Mrs. America,” the nine-episode limited series about the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment that stars and is executive produced by Cate Blanchett, will launch with three episodes April 15 exclusively on FX on Hulu; the second season of “What We Do in the Shadows” will start with two back-to-back episodes April 15 at 10 p.m. on FX’s linear channel and then stream next-day on FX on Hulu; “Fargo’s” fourth installment will launch with two back-to-back episodes April 19 at 10 p.m. on FX’s linear channel and stream the next day on FX on Hulu; and finally the 11th season of “Archer” will premiere with two back-to-back episdoes May 6 at 10 p.m. on FXX and stream the next day on FX on Hulu.