Here’s How Every Season of ‘American Horror Story’ Is Officially Connected

No show gives fans more than American Horror Story. Just when you think Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s series couldn’t possibly slip in another jaw-dropping twist, it re-emerges with another ghost romance and another surprise killer. There’s truly no predicting what will happen in American Horror Story. And that goes for the bonds connecting each of these seasons.

For years now, Murphy has teased that ever season of American Horror Story is connected. And after the success of Season 8’s crossover season Apocalypse, he’s made good on that proclamation. From comics about Twisty the Clown to one reporter’s dedicated show, here’s how all nine seasons of American Horror Story connect to each other. And yes before you ask, AHS: 1984 is absolutely a part of this mix.

American Horror Story: Murder House

Direct Connections in Murder House?: Three. Coven, Hotel, and Apocalypse

No better place to start than at the beginning. Apocalypse contains by far the most obvious connection to AHS‘ first season. The half-ghost child that Tate (Evan Peters) and Vivien (Connie Britton) had grew up to become Michael Langdon (Cody Fern), the actual son of Satan. He’s the one who terrorized most of Apocalypse.

AHS doubled down on this connection in its crossover season. To figure out Michael’s weaknesses, the witches Madison (Emma Roberts) and Behold (Billy Porter) actually visited Murder House. Since Madison Montgomery first appeared in AHS: Coven, that means Murder House, Coven, and Apocalypse all exist in the same universe. 

But the connections don’t stop there. Remember Billie Dean Howard (Sarah Paulson), the chain-smoking psychic who regularly haunted Season 1? She reappeared to guide the ghosts of Hotel Cortez in Hotel.

So far we know that Murder House exists in the same universe as Coven, Apocalypse, and Hotel, and we’re just beginning.

American Horror Story: Asylum

Direct Connections in Asylum?: Four. Freak Show, Roanoke, Cult, and 1984

Briarcliff holds a very specific record for this crazy show. Asylum’s Pepper (Naomi Grossman) is the first AHS character to appear in multiple seasons of the show. In Asylum Pepper was one of Briarcliff’s more relaxed inmates. She appeared two seasons later in Freak Show where it was revealed that she and her sister were placed in an orphanage before being adopted by Elsa Mars (Jessica Lange) and made to be circus performers. Based on the timeline of these two seasons, Pepper lived with Elsa around 1954. After leaving the circus with her sister and killing her sister’s baby, she was then admitted to Briarcliff sometime in the 1960s.

Then there’s the Lana Winters (Sarah Paulson) of it all. Lana the fearless reporter is Asylum’s protagonist. After barely escaping Briarcliff with her life and exonerating an innocent man from Bloody Face’s crimes, Asylum ends with Lana hosting her own televised news show. That news show, The Lana Winters Special, makes another appearance in Roanoke when Lana comes out of retirement to interview Lee Harris (Angela Bassett).

The Lana Winters Special comes into play one final time. In Cult Lana requests an interview with Ally Mayfair-Richards (also Paulson) after learning that her twin escaped a sadistic clown cult. Ally refuses the interview, but still it happens.

This creepy asylum has one more pointed connection. The latter half of AHS: 1984 revolves around the nefarious Margaret’s (Leslie Grossman) business turning murder grounds into tourist traps. She routinely takes places where horrific crimes have been committed, like the Manson Family’s Spahn Ranch, and charges people money to explore them. And one of her properties is none other than Briarcliff Manor, likely because of all the human experimentation and Bloody Face.

Just to recap, Asylum exists in the same universe as Freak Show, Roanoke, Cult, and 1984. Cool? Cool. Let’s continue.

American Horror Story: Coven

Direct Connections in Coven?: Four. Murder House, Apocalypse, Hotel, and Roanoke

We’ve already covered how Apocalypse connects Murder House to Coven. Hell, that’s basically what the entire season is about. So let’s get into those more interesting connections.

In Apocalypse we finally learned what Hotel Cortez is. It’s a sort of demonic purgatory, one which trapped Asylum‘s witches Madison and Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) in their own personal hells for years. Michael the antichrist was able to save them, but that just further proves there’s a connection between these seasons.

And then there’s the big daddy of connections: Roanoke. Up until this point two different AHS universes have emerged. Murder House connects to Coven, Apocalypse, and Hotel while Asylum connects to Freak Show, Cult, Roanoke, and 1984. Roanoke is the bridge we need between these two universes. One of the main antagonists of Season 6 is the immensely powerful witch Scáthach (Lady Gaga). It’s been confirmed that Scáthach is actually the first Supreme of the line of witches that Coven follows.

And bam, just like that Coven links to Roanoke, which means Murder House, Apocalypse, and Hotel are all connected to Asylum, Freak Show, Cult, and 1984. It’s all connected. But this is fun, so let’s keep going.

American Horror Story: Freak Show

Direct Connections in Freak Show?: Three. Asylum, Hotel, and Cult

In addition to Pepper, there are two other characters connecting Freak Show to Asylum. The same Nazi doctor (James Cromwell) who makes the lives of Briarcliff’s inmates hell appears around Elsa’s circus. Also Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe) emerges in Freak Show to escort Pepper to Asylum’s home of Briarcliff.

Speaking of residents of Elsa’s circus, let’s talk about Gloria (Frances Conroy) and Dandy Mott (Finn Wittrock). This deranged mother and son duo share an ancestor with a common last name. Edward Phillipe Mott (Elliott Ehlers) was the head of the Mott family who is responsible for creating the mansion in Roanoke, meaning that Freak Show shares some history with Roanoke.

But the most interesting connection emerges in AHS‘ biggest outlier, Cult. Whereas most seasons of this show embrace magic and ghosts, all of the horrors that unfold in Cult are caused by normal people. In this all-too-typical world, Twisty the Clown (John Carroll Lynch) appears as a comic book character. Twisty is the psychopathic savage who kills most of Freak Show‘s victims.

American Horror Story: Hotel

Direct Connections in Hotel?: Four. Murder House, Coven, Apocalypse, and 1984

We’ve got all of the big connections out of the way with this one. The psychic Billie Dean appears in both Murder House and Hotel. Also two of Coven‘s main characters, Madison and Queenie, were trapped in Hotel Cortez’s depths before they were rescued by Murder House’s illegitimate baby, Michael Langdon. There are a couple more connections between these three seasons, especially concerning Evan Peters’ characters. But all you need to know is that they all comfortably exist in the same universe.

There is one final Easter egg hiding in this season. One of Hotel Cortez’s evil residents is the infamous serial killer Richard Ramirez (Zach Villa). Ramirez is a huge part of American Horror Story: 1984. It’s unclear exactly when he’s subjected to spend the rest of his afterlife in Hotel Cortez, but we hope he’s miserable.

American Horror Story: Roanoke

Direct Connections in Roanoke?: Three. Coven, Freak Show, and Asylum

The Roanoke mansion’s founder Edward Phillipe Mott would eventually head the family that would lead to Gloria and Dandy Mott in Freak Show. So we can thank that guy for the cannibalistic horrors of Season 6. Other than that, it was revealed that the immortal Scáthach was actually the first Supreme of Coven. Also Asylum‘s protagonist Lana Winters appears at the end of this season, proving that though Asylum and Roanoke may exist in the same universe you can overcome the trauma of both.

American Horror Story: Cult

Direct Connections in Cult?: Two. Asylum and Freak Show

Once again we have Lana to thank for this connection. Though Ally turns her down, Cult‘s screaming protagonist is asked to talk about her experiences with a clown cult on The Lana Winters Special, which was first introduced in Asylum. Also this season has several references to Freak Show favorite Twisty the Clown. It’s still unclear if Twisty is really just a comic book character in Cult’s universe, or if he’s real and the comic is based on him.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse

Direct Connections in Apocalypse?: Three. Murder House, Coven, and Hotel

Basically Apocalypse was 10 hours of Easter eggs connecting these three seasons. So let’s highlight another, often overlooked connection. While Coven‘s Madison is visiting the Murder House on her quest to figure out Michael-the-antichrist’s weaknesses, the realtor casually mentions that another pair of Montgomerys used to live in the house. That’s a reference to Charles and Nora Montgomery (Matt Ross and Lily Rabe). There’s a very good chance this unstable couple is related to Madison.

American Horror Story: 1984

Direct Connections in 1984?: Two. Asylum and Hotel

And now we complete the circle. As mentioned before one of the murderous Margaret’s creepy properties in 1984 is Briarcliff Manor, the home of Asylum. Also Richard Ramirez, 1984′s major killer who is on a rampage with the help of Satan, first appeared as one of the trapped residents of Hotel. That’s almost a decade, nine seasons, and 103 hours of television that are all connected. Take that, Marvel.

Where to stream American Horror Story: 1984