Although American Horror Story‘s season 13 finale did technically wrap up the show’s elaborate battle between Satan and the show’s coven of comparatively heroic witches, this is ironically bad news for the show’s upcoming season 14. Both AMC’s The Walking Dead franchise and FX’s American Horror Story were once seen as groundbreaking, boundary-pushing works of small-screen horror. When the two shows arrived in the early 2010s, they were at the cutting edge of horror TV.
Gorier and scarier than network TV shows like The X-Files and more unapologetically bleak and disturbing than earlier R-rated cable horror shows like Tales from the Crypt, The Walking Dead and American Horror Story represented a tide change in horror TV. Sadly, neither franchise maintained this reputation. While The Walking Dead‘s many spinoffs outshone the original show, American Horror Story‘s penchant for goofy twists, high camp, and self-aware silliness sapped the series of its potential.
Only two of the show’s 12 earlier seasons, Coven and Apocalypse, had explicitly canonically linked their main storylines. However, American Horror Story season 13 promised to be a return to form and was touted as the long-promised sequel season that would finally merge Murder House, Asylum, Coven, Hotel, Cult, Apocalypse, and the show’s other messy, disjointed seasons. The show’s critical decline made season 13’s change necessary, as season 12’s finale was American Horror Story‘s lowest rated episode ever. However, American Horror Story season 13’s reception only got worse as the outing continued.
American Horror Story Season 14 Now Needs A New Story
<<img src="https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/american-horror-story-13-paul-anthony-kelly-nas.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" />
Image via FX</figure>
As chaotic and surreal as it was, American Horror Story season 13’s finale did definitely wrap up its story once and for all. The battle between Cordelia and Mallory’s coven and Mr. Nas (Satan) and his son Ben, the Antichrist, managed to cram a trip to Hell, time travel, the Salem witch trials, both Madison’s entire pregnancy and birth, and the ritual to end the Devil’s reign into its overstuffed runtime.
Ideally, American Horror Story season 13’s story should have instead led straight into season 14, since season 13 was touted as a massive cast reunion and a two-parter could have provided the series with a perfect send-off for its many existing characters. If American Horror Story had kept season 13’s story going after the series was renewed for season 14, the show could have finally dropped the anthology format entirely and gone straight into season 14 with a cliffhanger ending.
Sadly, this was not the approach that American Horror Story‘s creators took. Thus, season 14 will now drop American Horror Story season 13’s story and start anew all over again, meaning the promises to wrap up unfinished plots from earlier outings were empty after all. While more time to finish season 13’s story, combined with an ending that did justice to the show’s characters, could potentially have redeemed the series, the show’s season 14 renewal instead renders this entire elaborate reunion and all its comebacks moot.
American Horror Story Season 13’s Ending Doesn’t Bode Well For Season 14
<<img src="https://static0.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/fedor-steer-in-american-horror-story-season-13.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2" />
Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb</figure>
Season 13 ran into many of the same issues as American Horror Story season 12, Delicate, which is quite an impressive achievement considering how radically different their stories were. Delicate, based on author Danielle Valentine’s novel Delicate Condition, was a self-contained adaptation of a book that introduced too many plot threads and characters to its twisty mystery.
This resulted in a finale that had to cram in too many endings at once, and ended up feeling more confused than satisfying. In stark contrast, season 13’s story was intimately linked to earlier seasons of American Horror Story, had clear character connections to some of the show’s most beloved episodes, and, in a worrying sign for season 14, still ended up managing to end with a confusing, overstuffed, and unsatisfying finale.
American Horror Story
Discover more from NAIRAVOICE.COM.NG
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
