American Horror Story Season 12 - What We Know So Far

One of the greatest aspects of "American Horror Story" is its anthology format, which means each season of the popular horror show tends to stand on its own — with only a few exceptions. This allows series creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk a fair amount of freedom when it comes to crafting "AHS," which has spawned some unique and wholly different experiences, including some truly shocking and over-the-top moments. The very first season of "AHS" is set in a haunted house that has collected quite an array of lost and damned souls, and from that point, it visits an asylum with both alien and demon incursions, a coven of powerful witches, a freakshow, and a hotel run by a vampiric Lady Gaga to just name some of the earliest installments.

Needless to say, "AHS" likes to jump around with its themes, settings, and characters. Although there are definitely some actors that pop up more often than not, one can never know completely what a season of the series might have in store. Filled with twists, turns, camp, and gore, "AHS" has been popular enough to even spawn its own spin-off, "American Horror Stories," which takes that anthology format even more seriously and almost every episode is its own entity. However, what exactly do we know about Season 12 of "American Horror Story?"

Unfortunately, the plot of Season 12 of "American Horror Story" is at this point unknown. This makes sense, considering the normally secretive production of the series. The show likes to release exceptionally vague teasers filled with intense imagery, but usually, little plot is ever revealed, if at all. The most recent season is grounded in real life with very few supernatural elements in place, although this is a rare occurrence in the series that is usually rife with ghosts and other such extra-planar beings. The teaser for Season 11 on YouTube features leather, spikes, latex, and partying, and the actual plot is about the AIDS pandemic, so even trailers can be misleading.

That being said, we can probably assume that Season 12 will either channel real-life events or be an absolute ghost-filled romp; it seems like there are two general flavors of "AHS" seasons and it really depends on the writers. One end of the spectrum is populated by the "AHS: Cult" and "AHS: NYC" seasons, while the other end is pretty much all the rest. However, fans may actually get a chance to see both types, as the series has already been renewed for Seasons 12 and 13. According to Newsweek, FX Network chairman John Landgraf released a statement on the continuation: "[Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk] are the undisputed masters of horror TV, having created the anthological limited series with 'American Horror Story' and sustaining its success for nearly a decade as FX's highest-rated series."

Like the plot of Season 12, the current cast is yet another unknown, though we can make some educated guesses as to who might appear. If there is one consistency across all "American Horror Story" seasons is that the cast usually has a couple of "AHS" alumni among them, despite the varying themes and settings. Looking at IMDb, one can see that actors like Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Denis O'Hare, Kathy Bates, Lily Rabe, and Frances Conroy have some of the most credits for the series, though that doesn't necessarily mean that any of them will be in Season 12.

However, we can probably assume that we will at least see Billie Lourd, who has been on a string of appearances in "AHS," appearing in every season since "AHS: Cult." This can also extend to Leslie Grossman, who is in a similar spot as Lourd. One can also assume that "AHS" will see Paulson sooner or later, who once told Variety, "It's not that I'm not open to it. I'm always open to it, but I feel like I've been doing it for a long time, and people might start getting sick of me in that world. Let someone else scream and run and cry for a second. Other people can do that too!"

The premiere dates of "American Horror Story" typically are around the same time, and although there is not a 100% confirmation as to an air date for Season 12, it is possible to make an educated guess as to when fans might get a chance to see the next installment of the popular show. Previous seasons, with the exception of "AHS: Double Feature," premiered in either September or October. Season 12 of "AHS" will probably follow a similar schedule and premiere sometime between mid-September and mid-October. (The only reason "AHS: Double Feature" was released in August was on account of pandemic-related lockdowns and scheduling issues.)

This release date typically allows "AHS" to craft a Halloween episode, though not every season has one. However, at some point in the future, "AHS" will feature the popular characters from "AHS: Coven" and "AHS: Apocalypse," and Halloween always has a special place when it comes to these magic users. Speaking with ET in 2018, Ryan Murphy said, "The witches will be back. Not next season, but we have something really fun planned." Considering this statement was in 2018, it is only a matter of time before we see how the coven is surviving after saving the world from a biblical apocalypse.

Although "American Horror Story" is written and created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, there are many others that have writing and directing credits. According to IMDb, there have been 39 people who have sat in the director's chair, with some of the actors even lending their talents, like Sarah Paulson and Angela Bassett. Predicting who might be directing Season 12's episodes can be somewhat tricky to pin down, especially considering that directors often change between episodes. Season 11 of "AHS" saw John J. Gray, Max Winkler, Jennifer Lynch, Paris Barclay, and Our Lady J all directing at least one episode.

Likewise, there have been several individuals who have helped scribe "AHS," with the show having 24 credits for writers. Again, that makes figuring out who will be writing Season 12 an unknown, but there is always a ton of talent that goes into both directing and writing the show. In an interview with Collider in 2011, Murphy was asked how he is able to shift writing gears between his other show "Glee" and "AHS," and he replied, "We have two great writing staffs, and we split the day with them. We work at night and we work weekends. Before we go into 'American Horror Story,' we walk around the lot because it's very dark, and 'Glee' is not that. You do have to change your energy. The staffs for both shows are in the same building, and are both obsessed with the other's show. It's a light and fun environment."

There isn't a trailer for Season 12 of "American Horror Story," and it will probably be quite some time before we get a chance to see it. These days the show plays most of its themes and trailers exceptionally close to the chest, and most of the hard evidence starts to pop up usually a month or two at best before the premiere. That means we can probably start expecting to see a trailer sometime around August 2023 at the very earliest, though at this point that is pure speculation.

As mentioned earlier, most of the trailers for "AHS" are generally highly stylized and usually don't feature any actual images or actors from the show. The previously linked trailer for "AHS: NYC" is a good example of this, but the trailer for Season 10 on YouTube is similarly vague, just briefly touching on the themes. This allows fans to take guesses at what may come to pass without spoilers, so the trailer for Season 12 will probably follow this established format and allow the imagination to run wild.

Either way, the future trailer will probably tease fans about what is to come, while at the same time showing off some haunting images wholly inspired by Season 12, but not drawn from it. One thing is for certain though: Season 12 of "American Horror Story" can't come soon enough.