Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, American Horror Story first premiered on FX in October of 2011. The show was initially billed as a new horror series that would likely continue in a traditional way, with the same characters facing new situations every season. However, it was soon revealed that the show would take a different approach, as it would include the same actors in new roles and stories each season.

Eventually, it was also revealed that the different worlds and seasons are largely connected. One of the highlights of the series has been the ability of the show to showcase different types of stories each season, and entirely new characters for many of the actors.

From Jessica Lange's powerful witch character Fiona Goode in season 3 to Angela Bassett's Desiree Dupree in season 4 and so on, the show has the opportunity to delve into new lives and situations for each new installment. As with any production, there is also a lot that goes on behind-the-scenes.

With that said, it's time to take a look at these 25 Behind-The-Scenes Photos Of American Horror Story That Change Everything.

FILMING MURDER HOUSE

When AHS premiered, it introduced a different way of presenting a series. Each season would be self-contained, with actors playing different characters each season. In the most recent season, AHS: Apocalypse, more characters from previous seasons were reintroduced, showing just how connected the seasons are. This was hinted at previously in Freak Show and a couple of other installments.

In this photo, the cast and crew prepare to shoot scenes in Murder House. Not only did Murder House focus on the lives (and afterlives) of several main characters, but it also delved into the past and showed how some major and minor characters in the season who ed away.

KATHY BATES VS. LALAURIE

In AHS: Coven, Kathy Bates plays Delphine LaLaurie, an awful woman who tortured slaves in the 1800s. For her portrayal, Bates won several awards, including an Emmy.

In Coven, Delphine was an enemy of Marie Laveau, whom the latter cursed with eternal life before burying her alive. In 2013, she is rediscovered by the coven, only to be dispatched once and for all. Here, Bates gleefully carries a replica of her character's head. Like many of AHS's characters, Coven's LaLaurie was based on the real-life criminal, so it's only fitting to relish in her demise, even a fictional version.

SARAH PAULSON AND RYAN MURPHY

Sarah Paulson is one of two actors who has been featured in every season of AHS thus far (the other being Evan Peters). She's been a medium (Murder House), a reporter (Asylum), a witch (Coven), a coned twin (Freak Show), an addict/criminal (Hotel), an actress in a haunted house (Roanoke), a stalking victim/cult leader (Cult), and an assistant/post-apocalyptic overseer (Apocalypse). In Apocalypse, she also reprises her role as a witch and medium.

This photo shows the playful side of the dynamic between Sarah and AHS creator Ryan Murphy. Sarah has also directed AHS, saying of the experience, “I [felt] as excited and terrified as I’ve ever felt about doing anything.”

CODY FERN BEHIND-THE-SCENES

Cody Fern is a new addition to the AHS family. In AHS: Apocalypse, he plays Michael Langdon, the petulant and ultimately ineffective Antichrist in the season. While he's a menace onscreen, Fern has showed off his sense of humor behind-the-scenes.

In the background, it appears that the burned prop of his caretaker, Ms. Mead, is being spruced up for the scene. In AHS, his devotion to Ms. Mead is true and he's devastated by her loss. As a servant of the Antichrist, she also acted as his mother when his own could no longer stomach his outrageous and dangerous behavior.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES ASYLUM

A nun, a psychiatrist, and a priest walk into an asylum... No, it's not the start of a corny joke. AHS: Asylum features a nun (Jessica Lange), a priest (Joseph Fiennes), a psychiatrist/criminal (Zachary Quinto), and aliens, among other things. While some fans were miffed with an alien twist that they believed never really paid off, Ryan and Brad noted that the aliens were meant to be a commentary.

In an interview with Collider, Ryan stated, “I was always interested in those [alien abduction] stories, and the fascinating thing about them was the people who had claimed to be abducted and who had been on the ships. Did that happen? I don’t know.”

EVAN PETERS IN CULT

Evan Peters delivered a powerful performance as a psycho who wants to take over the world in Cult. Like most dangerously disturbed individuals, his character becomes corrupted due to unresolved trauma and lack of empathy outside of his own needs. In short, he's messed up.

However, that doesn't stop him from gathering a bunch of other messed up people to do messed up things on a large scale. In a THR interview, Peters stated of his fictitious character that, “Kai is the most vicious of all of the cult leaders. He has been a difficult character to play, with a lot of highs and lows, and a lot of darkness."

SEEING DOUBLE

Are two heads better than one? Maybe not. In this behind-the-scenes shot, Sarah Paulson sits patiently while her uncomfortable-looking and lifelike second head is added. Fractured FX, the award-winning company behind the practical prosthetics on AHS, created this design based on real people.

Daisy and Violet Hilton were real-life coned twins who worked for a carnival act after being emancipated from their stepmother at a young age. In Freak Show, Bette and Dot have very conflicting personalities. Sarah had the complicated task of portraying the duo, with the prosthetic attached.

TAKING A BREAK WITH VIVIEN HARMON

While her character on AHS: Murder House and Apocalypse, Vivien Harmon, doesn't have much to laugh about, Connie Brittion takes some time out to find the brighter side of things behind-the-scenes.

After having several difficult pregnancies, Vivien finds herself pregnant again shortly after she and her family move into Murder House. However, it turns out to be a supernatural pregnancy. In AHS: Apocalypse, it's revealed that she's the mother of the Antichrist, whose existence was brought about in a union between a human and a ghost. She realized he was evil and tried to end his life, but by that point he was already too powerful.

THE RETURN OF COVEN

The coven returns for AHS: Apocalypse, which also sees the return of musician Stevie Nicks, who plays herself with the moniker of “The White Witch.” The Coven installment was one of the most popular of the American Horror Story series. One of the characters, Misty Day, was obsessed with Stevie Nicks.

In American Horror Story: Apocalypse, she comes back and gives a performance for Misty Day's return from the underworld. In this picture, Sarah Paulson, Stevie Nicks, Lily Rabe, Emma Roberts, Taissa Farmiga, Gabourey Sidibe, and s Conroy pose behind-the-scenes before their characters tackle saving the world from the Antichrist.

BEHIND-THE-SCENES WITH LOBSTER BOY

In American Horror Story: Freak Show, Evan Peters plays a claw-handed young man. This behind-the-scenes photo shows some of the work that was put into bringing his character to life.

His character in Freak Show wanted to try to have a normal life but his hands always made him stand out. Freak Show focused on several real-life characters, one of which was Grady Stiles, Jr. He had a condition that caused his hands to look like lobster claws. As depicted in AHS, Grady worked in a sideshow. However, whereas Jimmy Darling was a more comionate person, Stiles was known for his abusive behavior.