American Horror Story’s anthology spinoff American Horror Stories is finding success where the original series is failing, proving that AHS needs to end sooner than later. After debuting in 2011, American Horror Story has produced 11 seasons and become one of the biggest franchises on TV. The show’s success then spawned a spinoff from Ryan Murphy in 2021, which follows a new horrifying tale every episode instead of every season. While American Horror Stories primarily adapts folk stories, horrific lore, and supernatural conspiracies, the spinoff has also featured episodes directly connected to past seasons and characters from American Horror Story.
Although American Horror Story seasons 10 and 11 are regarded as below-standard installments of the series, Ryan Murphy still has assurance from FX regarding the show’s future. American Horror Story is renewed through season 13, meaning there are still two more seasons to go until the series could potentially end for good. On the other hand, FX on Hulu has yet to renew American Horror Stories season 3, which is a mistake when considering the many improvements the spinoff demonstrated in its second season. While American Horror Stories has the potential for a stronger future, American Horry Story is proving that season 13 needs to be the last.
Why American Horror Stories' Success Shows That AHS Needs To End
The American Horror Story franchise is proving that it can’t handle the main series and spinoff while providing high-quality outputs for both, indicating FX needs to choose one show to prioritize moving forward. While American Horror Story’s quality should have remained high given it’s the main series, the value of the original has disappointingly decreased since season 9's AHS: 1984. On the other hand, American Horror Stories season 2 saw a strong increase in the quality of its storytelling and performances over season 1. Proving how much better the spinoff has become, American Horror Stories season 2’s Rotten Tomatoes score is 80% Fresh, whereas season 1 is a “Rotten” 52% score.
While the first season of American Horror Stories was still disappointing compared to the triumphant installments of the original series, there is one key difference: American Horror Stories continues to improve, while American Horror Story has become either stagnant or lower than the standards held for its storytelling. It’s become increasingly apparent that American Horror Story is losing momentum in terms of season themes and consistent writing quality, but there are endless opportunities for American Horror Stories given the spinoff's themes and cast change each episode.
Why American Horror Stories' Format Works Better
In its later seasons, American Horror Story has found greater success by including characters, locations, or themes that connect back to popular seasons from the show’s past. However, as the series does this less and less, it’s begun to lose a crucial aspect of its appeal. American Horror Stories, on the other hand, has far more opportunity to continue the stories of beloved figures from the franchise. For instance, American Horror Stories season 2 opened strong with “Dollhouse,” which told the origin story for AHS: Coven’s enigmatic character Spalding. This would be a difficult story to make organic in a full season of AHS, but is perfect for the episodic format of American Horror Stories.
American Horror Stories’ format also works much better for certain themes that have been proposed by Ryan Murphy. After suggesting the Bloody Mary legend and Plague as potential themes for future American Horror Story seasons, they ended up being used for different episodes in American Horror Stories season 2. These themes arguably wouldn’t have fit well in a full-season format, but succeeded in single episodes that weren’t failed by poor pacing. American Horror Stories also allows for more cameos from beloved AHS actors like Gabourey Sidibe who may not be able to commit to a full season, which opens the door for more familiar faces can return.
How Quality Has Become An Issue For American Horror Story
While Coven, Asylum, Murder House, and Apocalypse remain some of the strongest seasons of American Horror Story, the series has failed to recapture the high-quality production, writing, and pacing that made these seasons great. AHS: Red Tide had a great start, but its finale was a massive disappointment, with Death Valley struggling from unsatisfying writing and performances throughout. American Horror Story: NYC was a great step toward reviving the quality expected of the main series, but its failure to be completely captivating still indicates that AHS is nearing the end of its welcome.
Since the past few seasons of American Horror Story have failed to get the main series back on track quality-wise in comparison to its greater installments, it’s hard to see this being accomplished in seasons 12 and 13, especially if plans arise for a longer future. Even if some seasons of American Horror Story start off strong, Red Tide, Death Valley, and NYC failed to stick the landing, which is a crucial part of executing a high-quality season. American Horror Story may have a few more compelling stories to crank out before coming to an end, but American Horror Stories is proving itself to be the real future of the franchise.