American Horror Story Season 12 Release Date, Cast, Trailer, Plot, And More Details

The twelfth season of "American Horror Story" is upon us — and it's arriving sooner than you might think.

After premiering on FX in the fall of 2011 with its first season — retroactively titled "Murder House" — "American Horror Story" really took off and became a staple of the horror genre. Spanning everything from unethically run mental health institutions and witch covens in New Orleans to circuses and devious cults, "American Horror Story" is one of FX's most popular series, and the twelfth season is finally coming.

So what do you need to know about Season 12 of "American Horror Story," which boasts the subtitle "Delicate?" Will showrunner Ryan Murphy's next season become one of the show's very best seasons, or will it fall to the bottom of the pack when all is said and done? Which "American Horror Story" regular players are set to return, and who's new to the franchise? Here's what you need to know about "American Horror Story: Delicate."

In mid-August of 2023, "American Horror Story" fans got excellent news: "Delicate" would drop much sooner than anybody thought. The first part of the series will air on FX on September 20 and will be added to Hulu the next day.

Yes, you read that correctly — the "first part" of "Delicate" will drop in September and run to October 18, and we'll be getting a second batch of episodes sometime in 2024. This is a first for the "American Horror Story" franchise, as other seasons of the show have aired in one installment over a period of about two months. Splitting "Delicate" into a multi-part season is definitely an interesting move for the series, considering that it indicates "Delicate" will have a much larger story to tell. Presumably, once all five episodes of Part One drop in 2023 audiences will have a clearer picture of why this season will air over two parts.

"American Horror Story: Delicate" is adapted from Danielle Valentine's horror novel "Delicate Condition," which focuses on Anna, a woman who goes through several rounds of in-vitro fertilization and endures enormous stress throughout. Not only does she think that there are forces trying to prevent her from getting pregnant, she's ultimately told that she miscarries a pregnancy ... but she can still feel a child growing inside of her womb. Naturally, nobody in her life believes her, which sends her into a complete downward spiral over what's happening to her own body.

"It is essentially a horror novel about pregnancy," Valentine told Entertainment Weekly in an interview conducted in July of this year. "It's a novel exploring not just the actual physical gruesomeness of what pregnancy is, but also the medical gaslighting that even modern, very privileged women experience as they're going through their pregnancies and the symptoms that I feel we as a culture still don't talk about for strange reasons."

Emma Roberts, an "American Horror Story" regular, will return to play Anna — but two notable names are joining the cast this season. Model and actress Cara Delevingne will appear in the series, alongside the one and only Kim Kardashian, who's playing one of the main three characters alongside Roberts and Delevingne. 

In April 2023, creator Ryan Murphy released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter about Kardashian's casting, saying, "Kim is among the biggest and brightest television stars in the world and we are thrilled to welcome her to the AHS family. Emma [Roberts] and I are excited about collaborating with this true force in the culture. Halley Feiffer has written a fun, stylish and ultimately terrifying role especially for Kim, and this season is ambitious and unlike anything we have ever done."

Supporting players also include two Murphy regulars: Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, who worked with the writer on "Pose," and "American Horror Story" veteran Zachary Quinto.

"American Horror Story: Delicate" is a first for the franchise for several reasons — including being split into multiple parts — but there's another big first for the season. Creator Ryan Murphy, who typically serves as the series showrunner, is handing over the reins to Halley Feiffer. Feiffer will be the sole writer and showrunner for the season, which has never happened before in "American Horror Story" history.

So who is Feiffer? Well, she's an actress and playwright, and this is her first time working on "American Horror Story." Feiffer has written a handful of acclaimed plays, including "I'm Gonna Pray for You So Hard," "MoscowX6," and "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Gynecologic Oncology Unit at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center of New York City," and she's also appeared on shows like "Bored to Death," "Flight of the Conchords," "Younger," and "Elementary." Clearly, Murphy thinks Feiffer's the perfect person to have the keys to the kingdom, so fans can get ready for a fresh new take on "American Horror Story."

After releasing teasers that hinted at the themes, tone, and vibe of the upcoming season of "American Horror Story," FX unveiled on September 6, 2023 the official trailer for the first span of "Delicate" episodes. This package fully explains the characters, plot, and stakes. As her best friend figure (Kim Kardashian) explains, Anna (Emma Roberts) is a superstar. However, it would seem that Anna has professional success but struggles for happiness in her personal life. The root of her dissatisfaction sets the plot in motion, as Anna endures a series of weird and askew fertility treatments. 

With Anna's pregnancy and its complications comes a terrifying inability to discern reality from hallucination, threatening her relationships, career, and inner life. At any rate, her dark tale involves a great deal of "American Horror Story" standard elements, including medical horrors, bloody rituals, otherworldly figures, and haunting images — like the final bit of the trailer in which Anna has her mouth sewn shut.

On the same day that it was announced that "American Horror Story: Delicate" would release in September, new posters for the season featuring Emma Roberts, Cara Delevingne, and Kim Kardashian dropped on Twitter with accompanying, ominous captions.

Delevingne's poster shows the actress with bright red lips, a short platinum bob, and operating room lights illuminating her as she dons those same glasses seen in the teaser, captioned "Take your medicine." Kardashian's poster sees the fledgling performer with a spider pressed to her abdomen as she stands underneath the moon and her eyelashes exaggerated to look like a spider as well, bearing the caption "You're in our web now." As for Roberts, the season's central character, her caption reads "Don't worry. We'll hold you." Plus, she's posed much like Kardashian with a spider standing in for a pregnancy belly, with the actress cradling the spider as if it's her offspring.

Considering that "American Horror Story: Delicate" will stream on Hulu the day after it airs on FX, it probably won't come as a shock that you can stream previous seasons of the series on Hulu as well. You could start with "Murder House" and make your way through or cater to your specific interests. Want a season with a bizarre, inventive narrative device? Try "Roanoke." Live for campy fun? "Coven" concludes with Jessica Lange screaming "knotty pine!" So, that'll do the trick. Big Lady Gaga fan? Don't miss the pop icon's starring turn in "Hotel." 

Perhaps the best thing about "American Horror Story" is that, aside from some regular cast members and, of course, the fact that it's scary, the seasons don't need to be watched in order. You can start wherever you'd like when it comes to the series or even skip entire seasons entirely — because, frankly, they're not all winners.

"American Horror Story: Delicate" premieres on September 20 on FX.