How American Horror Story Fans Really Feel About Actors' Multiple Roles

After nine seasons, American Horror Story is still enjoying popularity and success, but just like any other TV series that came before it, there are going to be folks that have less positive opinions, as well. Because AHS is an anthology series, the cast and storylines tend to march to the beat of their own morbid drum. Creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are known for using a small rotation of cast members, sometimes even reusing them for more than one character in a season.

As AHS fans know, some seasons don't live up to others, and Reddit users have definitely called out some of the reasons why. For example, u/roguepeachpie asked fellow Redditors what their most unpopular AHS opinions are, and the topic of actors playing multiple roles came up. Let's take a look at why this is an unpopular opinion and how multiple roles grind certain fans' gears.

In the conversation about actors playing multiple roles in American Horror Story, Reddit user Loretty argues that Sarah Paulson should be limited to one role per season. The user goes on to say that "The multiple roles take you out of the story." Paulson has played multiple roles (or the same role over multiple seasons) several times. These include Shelby Miller/Audrey Tindall in Roanoke, Bette and Dot Tattler in Freak Show, Susan Atkins and Ally Mayfair-Richards in Cult, Cordelia Foxx in Coven and Apocalypse, and finally, Billie Dean Howard, a medium who shows up in a whopping three seasons: Murder House, Hotel, and Apocalypse.

Scrolling a bit further down in the thread, Reddit user andre_mar mentions, "Coven damaged the vibe of the show and the characters should've never come back for Apocalypse," and "Sarah Paulson kinda plays the same character almost every season and it's become boring and tiresome." Yikes. Beyond the various roles being played in one season by one actor or actress — and single roles being stretched into multiple seasons — it seems like Redditors crave a little more versatility in Paulson's roles, which makes sense.

On the contrary, Reddit user GregDasta mentions in the same thread that Rudolph Valentino/Tristan Duffy (Finn Wittrock) in Hotel might be an exception, based on the fact that Duffy died and Wittrock went on to play Valentino, who is based on the real-life actor (via Smithsonian Magazine). Redditors also just seem to really like Wittrock as a mainstay on AHS, so that trumps the multiple roles issue a bit.