How to Get Cast on ‘American Horror Story’

“American Horror Story” is an anthology series that blends supernatural tropes with the horrors of everyday life. For example, Season 1, titled “Murder House,” follows a family living in a haunted house; Season 2, “Asylum,” focuses on the patients and staff inside a 1960s institution for the criminally insane.

While Season 13’s premise hasn’t yet been confirmed, its familiar cast indicates the series could revisit its “Coven” (Season 3) and “Apocalypse” (Season 8) storylines. And if its official Instagram announcement is any indication, including Emma Roberts’ “Apocalypse” catchphrase—“Surprise, bitch. I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me”—only serves as further proof the upcoming installment will be a callback to previous tales.

Because each season features a new theme, the cast varies—though many actors have become staples of the series, returning in new roles season after season. Standout stars include Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Billie Lourd, Finn Wittrock, James Cromwell, Lily Rabe, Lady Gaga, and Matt Bomer—with many of said names set to star on the upcoming season.

Roberts will return for Season 13. She’s appeared in six seasons so far: “Coven,” “Freak Show” (Season 4), “Cult” (Season 7), “Apocalypse,” “1984” (Season 9), and “Delicate” (Season 12). She’ll star alongside series newcomer Ariana Grande, with whom Roberts starred on Fox’s “Scream Queens,” another Murphy creation. Series veterans Paulson, Peters, Bassett, Bates, Lourd, Gabourey Sidibe, and Leslie Grossman are also in the cast. 

In February 2025, Lange said she’d never return to the series. “Oh Christ, no,” she said. “I mean, I haven’t done it for more than 10 years, 12 years, so, no, I’m not doing it.” But it looks like she’s changed her mind, surprising fans by rounding out the names revealed in the season’s official announcement.

Murphy and Falchuk have worked with several casting directors to strike the perfect balance of star power every season. For much of its run, the namesake CDs of Ulrich/Dawson/Kritzer Casting—Robert J. Ulrich, Eric Dawson, and Carol Kritzer—have been at the helm. The team has worked on an array of hit programs, including “The Boys,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and “Glee.” Their former associate, Eric Souliere (“Nip/Tuck,” “The Mentalist”), a frequent Murphy collaborator, also served as CD, along with duo Nicole Daniels and Courtney Bright (“American Horror Stories,” “American Crime Story,”), and Meagan Lewis (“Watchmen,” “True Detective”).

For some, such as Lady Gaga, landing a role on “AHS” simply meant picking up the phone and asking for a part. For others, such as Kathy Bates, they came highly recommended by an existing cast member—Jessica Lange, in this case. Model Kaia Gerber, on the other hand, had to work a bit harder than her experienced counterparts, as she filmed a self-tape with her mother, Cindy Crawford, behind the camera, proving she had the chops to keep up with the big-name stars she’d admired most of her life.

But what can those without an established name expect inside the audition room? “I always tell actors that we want the same thing: We’re putting a puzzle together and looking for someone to come in the room and be that puzzle piece that just makes the most sense for that role,” Eric Souliere told us. “It’s very rare that there are producers in the room with us. It is usually just us with a camera, so we have the freedom to work with the actor and get the best performance. It’s really a fun experience. It should be taken as a fun experience. I am always frustrated when actors come in and are obviously very nervous or place a lot of emphasis or stake on this one audition when I think we all just need to have fun and get the best performance.”

Don’t go sharing your experience with the public, though. As Souliere emphasized, secrecy remains one of the team’s biggest challenges. “There have been times when actors self-taped and sent it to us but also put it on YouTube and made it public and named it ‘AHS audition’ and someone picked it up,” he described. “We have to be very careful about keeping everything secret.”

Souliere continued: “Whenever we put out a casting notice, we change the character’s name. There’s never any plot, the sides are fake, and the names are changed, so if it does get out, people have no idea what anything means. Also, every actor who auditions has to sign an NDA, and they can’t say that they went in for this show or disclose any information about the audition or role they’re reading for. We’re very protective; [we want] audiences to be surprised as they watch.”

Eric Dawson noted that actors who want to appeal to Murphy should show off a bit of their personality. “What I actually think is nice and [Murphy] does watch for is a little thing—30 seconds at most—at the beginning [of your self-tape]. Say something important about yourself, or the shows he does, or the character you’re reading for. Just a personal moment, and probably not more than 15, 20, 30 seconds,” he told us. “But I think sometimes that’s important, to just see the person for a second.”

“Barbie” star Margot Robbie auditioned for “Asylum” in 2011, Dawson noted, and though she didn’t land the role, her presence proved she was a star in the making back then. “Margot has a lot of ‘it’ factors. That’s the tough thing for casting directors who aren’t in the room [anymore] with actors. Margot is probably one of my favorite auditions of all time, and it was right before she broke out. She was such a star. It was crazy, her star appeal when she walked in the room. Even though she didn’t get that role, that was one of those things as a casting director where you go, This is a star. What do we do with her?” he explained. “Immediately, though, she was out of our realm of possibility of hiring. But that’s really the fun part of casting, is seeing the people whose careers are just rising.”

Murphy’s mysterious “AHS” Season 13 will tentatively begin filming in New York and New Jersey in February 2026, with an expected Halloween 2026 premiere date.

Currently, there are no open casting calls for “American Horror Story” Season 13. However, we have a history of working with the series and other Murphy productions.

To stay updated, you can keep an eye on our main casting page, where we will post relevant casting calls as they become available. In the meantime, you can explore our comprehensive guide on how to get cast in a Ryan Murphy production for more audition advice.

For aspiring actors hoping to join an established franchise like “AHS,” securing an acting agent is highly recommended, as agents often have exclusive access to audition information.

Practice makes perfect: For repeat Murphy collaborator Sarah Paulson, success means practicing a lot beforehand. She told us, “I record everyone’s lines in the scene but mine, and I practice it that way,” as this helps her hear and respond to a voice speaking her cues. “Because sometimes you can be living room ready, you know? Like you know all your lines in your living room, then you get on set, and go, ‘Oh my God I don’t know any of them.’ You’re not used to someone speaking back to you.”

She also recommends incorporating movement into your practice, as few scenes will ever require you to sit still the entire time. “What you want to do is marry movement with your dialogue,” Paulson added. “Nobody just sort of sits with their lines. Often you’re walking and talking and moving, depending on the play or TV show. You’re liable to be messing with a prop. If you only know your lines when you’re seated and concentrated on your lines, then the minute a prop master throws you a piece of paper you’ve got to hand off to someone—or a briefcase or purse or coat—all of a sudden your lines go out the door.”

Do your homework: As Eric Dawson explained, actors often come into the audition bragging about how they never watch TV. But, if you want to work in TV, you must familiarize yourself with what you’re up against. “If you want to act in television, I think you should watch it. It’s important to know the shows that you’re auditioning for and the characters that you’re auditioning against…” he said. “As a casting director I work really long hours, but I still manage to watch every pilot that comes on television, and I kind of have a sense of all the shows that are out there. I just don’t understand giving up that extra 20 percent help that that gives you going into a room. I don’t think there’s any room for snobbery.”

Nicole Daniels echoes the sentiment, emphasizing that actors should treat auditions like job interviews: “Do your homework and research, show up on time, study the scenes, and know the lines. Take it seriously.” Courtney Bright adds, “We have no problem if someone messes up and needs to start again, but if you come in, haven’t even looked at the material, and haven’t prepared, you can’t expect much patience. We want actors to feel good about what they’ve done, but they have to put in work.”

Read between the lines: Angela Bassett knows how to find the details hidden within the pages of any given script—and you can, too. “There’s all the information that’s right there, ready to serve you. All you have to do is find it—find videos of the person or interviews that they’ve done,” she said of portraying real-life figures. “At that time, I’d put the headset in and listen to their voice [and] intonations and try to capture some of that.”

Bassett added: “And for fictional [characters], you do those things, but within the context of the script. You’re just going through the script trying to find things. How would they walk? Is there something that’s said in there about their gait? What do other people say about them? You look for gems in the script that can give you insight into who this character is.”