The Emmy Winning AHS Performance Fans Like The Best

"American Horror Story" has been quite successful in ginning up excitement during awards season. The anthology series has racked up 94 Emmy nominations (per IMDb) during the show's 10 seasons. "AHS" has 16 wins across numerous categories from those nods, including make-up and wardrobe-related awards. However, the show has brought home only four acting wins. The victorious performers were James Cromwell for his work as Arthur Arden in "Asylum," Kathy Bates as Madame Delphine LaLaurie in "Coven," Jessica Lange, also for "Coven," in the role of the cool-minded Fiona Goode; and Lange once more, as Constance Langdon in "Murder House."

In the "American Horror Story" subreddit, u/RCPB39 asked fellow fans which of those Emmy-winning performances were their favorite. Over 650 viewers of "AHS" took the poll, which allowed them to choose between the four aforementioned roles, and it was quite a close race between first and second place.

With 217 votes, Jessica Lange's performance as Constance Langdon in "American Horror Story: Murder House" takes the crown. The actor's work as the witchy Ms. Goode came in at second place with 210 votes. Kathy Bates drew 173 votes and James Cromwell brought up the rear, accruing 57 votes.

The chilly, blunt matriarch definitely has her fans on the subreddit. As u/devoslander stated, "[t]he screams of terror when Constance finds out that Adalaine is dead still gives me goosebumps." Yet other fans posting to the thread thought Lange's strongest performance on the series came during the show's "Asylum" season. "The character of Sister Jude ripped my heart out and stepped on it. What a f****** ride," said u/rutilated_quartz, one of a group of fans who left comments in praise of Lange's work as the nun.

Other fans wished that Denis O'Hare's performance as Liz Taylor in the "Hotel" season and Sarah Paulson's work as Lana Winters in "Assylum" had garnered more critical favor. When comparing the acting Lange and Paulson did that season to the performance put in by Cromwell, fans were confused. "I'll never understand how Cromwell won an Emmy for Asylum when Sarah, Jessica, Lily and Quinto put together 4 of the top 12 performances in the entire show," said u/pwalsh04. The actor was the only one to take home a statue in a season that was stacked with commendable performances. Longtime viewers of the series often have strong opinions about other "AHS" actors being snubbed at the Emmys.

Naysayers aside, Cromwell, Lange, and Bates have definitely entered into a rare acting pantheon with their wins, and their work on "AHS" is likely to stand the test of time.