Sometimes, commercial success doesn’t equate to artistic greatness. Just because a project performed well doesn’t instantly mean that the actors see it as the pinnacle of their career or their best performance. For Jessica Lange, her long-running collaboration with Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story series proves that fact.

Ryan Murphy is an absolute master in the TV world. He’s been deemed “most powerful man” in modern television by The New Yorker thanks to his storming success with shows like Glee, Nip/Tuck, the recent Dahmer biopic Monster and more. But he’s likely best known for American Horror Story, a thrilling anthology series that’s been running since 2011.

With each new season, the show delves into a brand-new plot. While changing up the setting, characters, and storyline, the series does keep the same actors. Murphy stays true to his tribe as he’s built a crack team of his favourite performers, including Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, and more.

Jessica Lange is one of these key players, having appeared in the first four seasons, plus a guest star position in the eighth season, Apocalypse. She told The Wrap that she simply couldn’t help herself from coming back for more each time as the director was so convincing. “He knows what I like to do and what appeals to me as an actor to play,” she said.

Ask anyone who’s seen the show, and they’ll tell you that it started with a bang. Lange undeniably starred in the best seasons, but they seemed to trail off in quality as they went on. However, the season that performed the best commercially was the one that the actor liked the least.

After its breakout with Murder House in 2011, the third season, Coven, saw the show hit its absolute commercial peak. It was so big that the cast inflated to include more and bigger names, including a cameo from Stevie Nicks. As the plot followed a school of young witches, it nailed Murphy’s signature dark humour, merging comedic elements with the frights and thrills expected of the series.

It was such a success that the season gained seventeen Primetime Emmy Awards, including a win for ‘Outstanding Lead Performance’ for Lange in the role of Fiona Goode, the supreme witch who is losing her powers to the next generation.

However, neither the commercial success nor the accolades mean anything to Lange. “I mean, the part was very well written,” she said, “but I didn’t particularly like the whole setup of the season and the story that we were telling.” Instead, she admitted that Asylum is her favourite, followed by the fourth season of Freak Show, the debut season of Murder House, and finally, Coven, which is her least favourite of the ones she starred in.

Whether fans would agree with her ranking is a different question, but no doubt all viewers would argue that Lange was always a stand-out player in every season she graced.