American Horror Story: Kathy Bates' Characters Ranked Worst To Best

Coven remains one of the strongest seasons: lush witchy aesthetic, Taissa Farminga returns, and the more familiar supernatural ghoulies after Asylum's alien-infused barminess.

Bates appears as Delphine LaLaurie, a horrendous, obsessive, cruel, controlling character. As her first appearance in the show, its no wonder the Misery star was cast for this role: this is exactly what she became known for.

The 1800s certainly wasn't know for its racial equality at the best of times, but Delphine was considered pretty racist even for this pre Civil War society. This nasty matriarch is responsible for some of the most heinous crimes, torturing and murdering her slaves for sport and experimentation. Her homemade youth elixirs were whatever the exact opposite of cruelty free is: they were cannibalistic.

Her immortality at the hands of Marie Laveau dropped her slap bang in the middle of the 21st century, with a black president and several civil rights acts that infuriated her. Her dynamic with Queenie (queen in name and in nature) was interesting to watch play out, and we wondered if this old dog could be taught some new, less racist tricks. Her mourning of her beloved (but severely abused) daughters gave us a little pang of sympathy, and maybe this budding friendship with Queenie could have led to some redemption. No such luck. She died as she lived: hella racist.

Yes, Delphine LaLaurie is one of the worst monsters we've ever seen in AHS - a show that features the literal antichrist. But Kathy Bates plays her so well and makes us hate her so much that this truly is one of her best performances to date.