Ranking American Horror Story

American Horror Story has now aired 9 seasons, each one focusing on an entirely new subject, while often using the same cast members. It has been a revolutionary show for TV, ushering in the era of the anthology/limited series that is now dominating the landscape. It brought the acting talents of Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Lady Gaga to our attention, and gave new opportunities to legends like Kathy Bates and Jessica Lange. I am not going to dig too deep into it’s legacy, and more of a focus on the specific seasons, and where I personally would rank them. I have taken great care at thinking about this and I’m sure some will disagree, but I would love to hear your own rankings too.

9. AHS: Apocalypse

This season promised to be the biggest and best that AHS could offer, bringing back some iconic Coven characters and the promised anti-Christ from Murder House for a crossover event to end the world. However, the result ended up being a muddled mess of a season that didn’t really seem to know what to do with its talented cast. Cody Fern is a great actor but was hugely miscast as Michael. The stand out episode was the Sarah Paulson directed “Return to Murder House” and it was great to see Jessica Lange and Evan Peters return as some of my favourite characters they have played.

8. AHS: Roanoke

AHS really played with the format here and took a lot of risks, but most didn’t pay off. Evan Peters barely featured which was an issue, but it did have occasionally compelling moments and featured a really strong performance from both Sarah Paulson and Lily Rabe.

7. AHS: Freak Show

This has plenty of stylised elements to enjoy and compelling performances from Paulson, Peters, Lange and co. However, the story itself just never quite connected for me and although it was interesting, it just didn’t fully work for me.

6. AHS: Coven

I know this will be a very controversial position as many view this as one of the best seasons of the show, and I do really enjoy parts of it, but as a full season it just never fully hit the mark for me. Roberts, Farmiga, Paulson, Rabe, Conroy, and Lange all give great performances and have great fun though, and I fully understand why some people enjoy it so much.

5. AHS: Cult

This was a very stripped back and political response to the start of Trump era America, and it had mixed results. However, Paulson is great as always and Peters delivers what I view to be the best AHS performance of all time as Kai and he deserved much more attention for it. The season also introduced us to Billie Lourd in the world of AHS.

4. AHS: Hotel

This was the most stylised and sexual season of the show, and those elements were done brilliantly and added a real edge. However, the story itself was not particularly strong despite the great premise. Lady Gaga is totally compelling in the lead role here and Evan Peters has great fun in his supporting role.

3. AHS: 1984

The most recent season of the show took AHS backed to its stripped down roots with great success. It was a brilliant spin on the classic 70/80s slasher films and produced some really memorable characters. It was the first season not to feature Peters or Paulson, which is a big blow, but their absence wasn’t felt as much due to Billie Lourd’s absolutely iconic performance as Montana. The 80s never die.

2. AHS: Murder House

The season that started it all, and still one of the best ever. Jessica Lange as Constance, Evan Peters as Tate, the rubber man, and much more. This season did a lot to change how TV today is seen and even without that, it is just a really compelling season filled with great performances and twisted scares.

1. AHS: Asylum

In my opinion, this is easily the winner. The story is so compelling that it is hard to compete, and it has everything. Aliens, serial killers, nazis, and musical numbers. Paulson as Lana Winters is instantly iconic and her best performance on the show. It is a truly fantastic season all round, and it really allowed the show to become the phenomenon it is today.