What to Remember About ‘AHS Delicate’ Before It Returns: Cast, Plot, Recap

Here’s a refresher on what you need to know about “AHS: Delicate” before it returns.

‘AHS: Delicate’ is based on a book

The first episode of the series, “AHS: Delicate” is based (at least partially) on the novel “Delicate Condition” by Daniel Valentine.

According to her website, Valentine writes “horror books for teens, tweens and adults.” His latest book is “Delicate Conditions”, released in August 2023. But according to the Valentine site, she has also written an anthology called the “Merciless” series, which the site describes as “‘Mean Girls’ meets ‘The Exorcist'” and the 2022 novel “How to Survive Your Murder.” .

The Valentine site offers a plot summary of “Delicate Condition”, in part: “Anna Alcott is desperate to create a family. But she begins to suspect that someone is doing too much to ensure that “That this should never happen. Important medications go missing. Appointments are changed without her knowledge. And even her husband is unwilling to accept that someone is playing twisted games with her.”

In the cover blurb for Thriller, writer Andrea Bartz described it as “the feminist update to ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ that we all needed.” Valentine told Entertainment Weekly that she was happy with that comparison but was more inspired by the 1979 sci-fi horror film “Alien.”

“It’s basically a horror novel about pregnancy,” Valentine told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s a novel that explores not only the true physical gruesomeness of pregnancy, but also the medical gaslighting that even modern, very privileged women experience when they’re going through their pregnancies and I think That as a culture we still experience those symptoms.’ Don’t talk for strange reasons.”

For the first time for “American Horror Story,” Season 12 is written entirely by one person: actor and playwright Hailey Pfeiffer, who also serves as showrunner. Pfeiffer previously wrote for another Murphy show, “Impeachment: American Crime Story”, among other TV series.

Murphy previously told The Hollywood Reporter that “Delicate” is “ambitious and different from anything we’ve done” in the long-running franchise.

The cast of ‘AHS: Delicate’ includes a mix of regulars and newcomers like Cara Delevingne, who has a mystery role

Recurring “AHS” star Emma Roberts leads the main cast as Anna, a rising star with a troubled past who is trying to have both a successful acting career and a child. Kim Kardashian, who is new to the “American Horror Story” cast, also has a major role as Anna’s best friend and publicist Siobhan Corbin.

Murphy previously told The Hollywood Reporter that Pfeiffer had “written a funny, stylish and ultimately terrifying role” for Kardashian.

Another Murphy newcomer appearing this season is Cara Delevingne, who has a mystery role. Anna’s husband Dex is played by Matt Czuchry, another newcomer to the franchise.

Roberts isn’t the only “AHS” mainstay to land a role in “Delicate.” Dennis O’Hare plays Dr. Hill, a fertility doctor who is working with Anna to help her get pregnant. Billie Lourd and her fellow “Apocalypse” star Leslie Grossman also appear as “The Ashleys”, a team of crisis PR experts who come to help Siobhan Anna – except that’s based on the opening flashback sequence of episode four. But, they could also be age-old witches.

What is the story of ‘AHS: Delicate’?

So far, “AHS: Delicate” has generally followed the plot of Valentine’s novel with a few changes.

Roberts’s Anna, like the book, is an actress who is trying to have both a successful career and a child. Like the book, the season certainly has a touch of “Rosemary’s Baby,” with Anna doing her best to protect herself and her unborn child from increasingly disturbing threats, including demonic-looking people in cloaks. Are included.

But it seems that Siobhan’s character has been changed a bit. According to Entertainment Weekly, Siobhan is another actor who is more successful than Anna in the novel. But on the FX show, Siobhan is Anna’s new publicist, whom she met while they were both going through fertility treatments.

In the first five episodes of the season, we see Anna becoming increasingly crazy between giving birth to a child and trying to win an Oscar for her breakthrough film “The Author”. It’s unclear what she’s imagining and what’s actually happening to her, from intruders in her home that no one else can see, to fertility doctor’s appointments that mysteriously change the time on her phone. Is.

It is also not clear who Anna can trust. Her husband Dex (Czuchry) is often unsympathetic, not believing what Anna says about being stalked. Presumably he’s still attached to his deceased first wife, Adeline – not to mention busy hanging out with Sonia Shawcross, an attractive artist who looks exactly like Adeline.

Meanwhile, Siobhan, being Anna’s guardian, is ping-ponging between promising her the world and having a clear agenda of her own, whether that includes Anna’s welfare or not.

Meanwhile, Anna is also being stalked by two mysterious women who may be trying to harm her or protect her.

First, there is Ms. Preacher, an older woman who tries to warn Anna about Dr. Hill. Although Hill’s nurse Cora writes her off as a crazy person, in episode five we learn that Preacher also gave birth to a child in 1987 and she agrees to turn that child over to the mysterious figures who promised her success – and the child was delivered by Dr. Hill, who is apparently working with a shady group.

Delevingne plays another woman who appears to be stalking Anna. She appears throughout the season and even makes an appearance as a nurse named Ivy who was performing Anna’s ultrasound scan before the abortion, although Anna and Dex later learn that Ivy was at the clinic. There is no named nurse working.

Dex’s mother, Virginia Harding, has some problems of her own. She is suing Dex’s father, alleging (to Dex’s disbelief) that he had been performing Satanic rituals on her without her knowledge for years. Due to her conversation with Preacher in episode five, she also seems to be involved in whatever is happening with Anna’s baby. Preacher warns Virginia that Anna and Dex are in danger from this mysterious group that apparently lures promising women – from Mary I of England to Preacher himself – for worldly success in exchange for handing over their offspring to the group. Roaming.

How to Watch ‘American Horror Story’ Season 12 Part 2

FX previously confirmed that “AHS: Delicate” will be split into two parts.

Part one premiered on September 20, and the show controversially remained in production due to the writers and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The first five episodes air weekly until October. They’re all available to stream on Hulu now.

The sixth episode of the season, titled “Opening Night”, will air on Wednesday, April 3 at 10 pm ET on FX and will be available to stream on Hulu the following day. The remaining 12-episode season will air weekly.