Ryan Murphy has crowned his favorite “American Horror Story” season, and the choice is dividing his own cast.
The co-creator, 59, named the much-maligned sixth installment “Roanoke” as his personal pick while speaking exclusively to the outlet at the “American Horror Story: 13” premiere earlier this week. The declaration puts him at odds with franchise veteran Sarah Paulson, who has been vocal about her disdain for the same season.
“My favorite season is the season which everybody hates, which is ‘Roanoke,'” Murphy gushed on the red carpet. “That is my favorite season; it’s my favorite form. I loved making it because it was playing with form.”
Murphy pointed to a shifting fan consensus as vindication. “‘Roanoke’ started off being everyone’s most hated season, but now it’s kind of getting up there,” he explained, citing social media chatter. “And a lot of people are discovering it and it’s become a lot of people’s favorite, so I’m like, ‘Justice for ‘Roanoke!'”
Paulson, 50, holds the opposite view and makes no apologies for it. The actress told “Entertainment Tonight” on the same red carpet that she “can’t stand ‘Roanoke,'” noting that fans bristle whenever she says so.
“I don’t care,” Paulson fired back. “Bite me! Bite me hard! I don’t give a s–t, sorry!”
“Roanoke” arrived in 2016 as the franchise’s sixth chapter, structured as a fake paranormal documentary titled “My Roanoke Nightmare.” The season tracked a Los Angeles couple who relocated to a haunted farmhouse in rural North Carolina, with the narrative unfolding through faux documentary footage and later behind-the-scenes “reality” segments.
Murphy also reflected on the show’s unlikely longevity as it hits its thirteenth season. He admitted he “never thought it would last this long, in a million years, never ever.”
“I think it is a very othered show,” Murphy opined. “It started off with that, a show about outsiders, as a lot of my work is. They were about people who were overlooked and marginalized and unseen, and I’ve always done that in my work, but I also think there is a very queer sensibility to this show, always.”
He expanded on that appeal. “I think a lot of queer people love horror because they relate to the idea of others and the idea of revenge, justice, which this show has a lot of,” Murphy continued. “But also not just queer people; I think it’s a very feminine show. I think there’s always a lot of strong women characters.”
The “AHS: 13” premiere drew several franchise mainstays alongside Murphy and Paulson. Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett, Billie Lourd, Paul Anthony Kelly and Gabourey Sidibe all joined him on the carpet.
Bassett, 66, has her own favorite connection to the series. She previously told TVLine that her favorite “AHS” character was Marie Laveau from “Coven,” the voodoo queen based on a real 19th-century New Orleans practitioner.
Murphy’s “Coven” chapter, which ran as the show’s third season in 2013-2014, has also been singled out by other collaborators. He said in a past interview that “Coven” ranked among his favorites and speculated it could someday spawn a spinoff.
The divide over “Roanoke” encapsulates the broader discourse around the anthology’s uneven critical reception across its run. While some seasons like “Asylum” and “Murder House” drew immediate acclaim, “Roanoke” initially polarized viewers with its metafictional structure and abrupt midseason format shift from documentary to found-footage survival horror.
Paulson’s blunt rejection of the season carries extra weight given her status as the franchise’s most prolific performer, appearing in nine of the thirteen installments to date.
New episodes of “American Horror Story” Season 13 air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on FX and stream on Hulu the following day.