Sarah Paulson is stepping back into the witches' world. The queer actress is returning as Cordelia Goode for American Horror Story season 13, reuniting with the coven that made the franchise's third season a fan favorite. But creator Ryan Murphy has a twist: this isn't just a Coven comeback. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Murphy revealed that season 13 will be an ambitious mashup pulling from the entire American Horror Story universe, with Paulson playing six or seven of her most iconic roles from across the franchise.
A Franchise Legend Returns
Paulson's relationship with American Horror Story spans over a decade. She first appeared in Murder House (the 2011 pilot season) as Billie Dean Howard, a medium with an eye-rolling delivery and gift for prophecy that made her impossible to forget-so much so that Murphy brought her back for guest spots in Hotel and Apocalypse. But it was her leading role as Lana Winters in Asylum (season two) that cemented her as the franchise's emotional anchor. Lana, a lesbian journalist trapped in a brutal psychiatric hospital run by sadistic nuns, gave Paulson a showcase for both vulnerability and steely determination. The character resonated so deeply with fans that Paulson reprised Lana in Roanoke, this time as a legendary journalist reflecting on her past.
Since then, Paulson has become the franchise's most reliable shape-shifter. In Coven, she played the Supreme herself, Cordelia Goode, a witch learning to lead while drowning in family dysfunction and otherworldly horror. Cordelia was so central to the season that Murphy brought her back for Apocalypse, where she faced off against the Antichrist himself. By the time Paulson played conjoined twins Bette and Dot Tattler in Freak Show, her ability to carry an entire storyline on her shoulders was undeniable.
Twelve Roles, Countless Horrors
Over her American Horror Story career, Paulson has inhabited twelve distinct characters, each with their own arc and visual identity. Beyond Lana, Cordelia, and the Tattler twins, she's played Sally McKenna (the junkie ghost with a leopard-print obsession in Hotel), Ally Mayfair-Richards (the phobia-stricken lesbian in Cult), Wilhelmina Venable (the brutal overseer of Apocalypse's Outpost 3), and Audrey Tindall (the actress pretending to be an actress in Roanoke's meta-horror layers). She even took on historical roles in Double Feature, playing First Lady Mamie Eisenhower in the alien-inflected
Source: PinkNews
Cover photo: PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
