Warning: This article contains spoilers for AHS: 13 Episode 5.
Season 13 of American Horror Story has been a wild ride, and the latest episode features the return of a killer from past seasons of Ryan Murphy’s horror-thriller anthology series. Season 12, Delicate, ended in April 2024, and the long wait for new episodes has been worth it. AHS Season 13 has been a hit on streaming, and it tells the story of Ben DeSoto (Joey Pollari), who is afraid of the number 13 and becomes a caretaker at a mysterious building called the Apollyon after surviving a plane crash.
Directed by Jesse Peretz and written by Ned Martel and Charlie Carver, Episode 5, “Date Night,” shines a spotlight on Ashley, Ben’s late girlfriend Kira’s (Madelaine Petsch) best friend, played by Elle Chapman. In this equally emotional and eerie episode, Ashley visits Ben’s apartment for dinner and shares that the plane crash from Episode 1 is the second time she cheated death. She survived a massacre by the Piggy Man, the memorable American Horror Story killer.
In an interview with MovieWeb, Chapman explained that they shot Episode 5 first. She shared that while she has embraced the horror genre and enjoys Mike Flanagan’s work, notably his Netflix miniseries Midnight Mass, the Piggy Man was a frightening sight on set.
“I obviously did my research, and I was like, ‘Okay, Piggy Man is like a returning character from Roanake.’ So, I thought that was really exciting, and hopefully fans will be excited that he’s coming back… Even though now I’m like, ‘Okay, I can do horror,’ it was still so scary seeing Piggy Man all dressed in the flesh because Dave Presto, the special effects head, is incredible at his job and that head looks so real and it is so terrifying.”
She added, “I didn’t have to do much acting for that scene because I was pretty scared.” The Piggy Man is first referenced in American Horror Story Season 1, Episode 6, “Piggy Piggy,” when Ben’s (Dylan McDermott) patient, Derek (Eric Stonestreet), tells the story of a butcher whose pigs killed him. The killer appears again in Season 6, Roanoke. This unsettling figure is only one of many characters from past American Horror Story seasons who appear in Season 13, including Cordelia Goode (Sarah Paulson) and Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts) from Coven. The killer is a prominent part of Episode 5 as Ashley explains that she attended a wedding in May 2020 that turned deadly, and she managed to escape by running away. She says, “I survived. I remain a lucky girl,” which suggests that luck will likely play a key role in her character arc.
Ashley stands out as a clever and interesting final girl, which appealed to Chapman. As Ashley and Ben bond over cheating death and explore how to move forward, she opens up about the scars on her body. Chapman said:
“I think what’s so interesting about Ashley is that she’s not like a typical survivor. You know, she doesn’t think of herself as a victim… she still is a functioning adult… Then the plane crash happened and, the same thing, she kind of processes all her trauma through humor, which I think makes her a unique survivor.”
Chapman noted that Ashley encourages Ben to find empowerment in his survival rather than self-pity and move past the idea of being a victim. She added, “I think [in] this episode she really pushes Ben to not think of himself as that either. And even with her scars… I think that’s a really cool part of Ashley where she doesn’t look at her scars as these marks on herself and this trauma. She really is proud of them.”
Ashley is a welcome addition to the current season of American Horror Story, which explores the number 13 in various ways. Besides the 13-episode count, Kira loves the number 13 (and Taylor Swift, who has said that it’s lucky for her). Ben and Ashley both have triskaidekaphobia, which means they’re scared of the number 13.
As for the big twist at the end of Episode 5, where Ashley notices “616” written on Ben, Chapman couldn’t share any explanations or hints at what’s to come. However, she noted that she’s “curious” about people’s interpretations of the scene, and mentioned enjoying the various “smart” fan theories on Reddit.
American Horror Story Season 13 airs on Thursday nights on FX and streams on Hulu/Disney+. The finale will air on Oct. 29, 2026.
- Release Date
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October 5, 2011
- Network
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FX
- Directors
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Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, Jennifer Lynch, Michael Uppendahl, Loni Peristere, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Ryan Murphy, David Semel, Howard Deutch, Michael Lehmann, Angela Bassett, Jeremy Podeswa, Max Winkler, Michael Rymer, Paris Barclay, Axelle Carolyn, Anthony Hemingway, Craig Zisk, Elodie Keene, Jennifer Arnold, Jessica Yu, John Scott, Laura Belsey, Liz Friedlander, Maggie Kiley
- Writers
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Halley Feiffer, Ned Martel, Crystal Liu, Charlie Carver, Kristen Reidel, Adam Penn, Douglas Petrie, Todd Kubrak, Reilly Smith, Jay Beattie, Dan Dworkin, Joshua A. Green, Akela Cooper, Asha Michelle Wilson
