The twelfth season of the American horror anthology television series American Horror Story, subtitled Delicate, is based on Danielle Valentine's book Delicate Condition. It is the first season of the series to be based on a novel instead of having an original storyline, and the first season where series creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk did not serve as showrunners.
Halley Feiffer was the showrunner and wrote all nine episodes. The ensemble cast includes returnees Emma Roberts, Denis O'Hare, Dominic Burgess, Zachary Quinto, Billie Lourd, Grace Gummer, and Leslie Grossman, with newcomers Matt Czuchry, Kim Kardashian, Annabelle Dexter-Jones, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Cara Delevingne, Julie White, Juliana Canfield, and Maaz Ali.
While this season has no direct tie in to a previous interation, the season shares similar witchcraft storylines as present in Coven, Hotel and Apocalypse.
Created by Murphy and Falchuk for the cable network FX, the series is produced by 20th Television. Delicate aired from September 20, 2023, to April 24, 2024, and was split into two parts. The season garnered mixed reviews from critics and ranked among the top-streamed shows in the United States in late 2023. It was nominated for Best Horror Television Series at the 51st Saturn Awards and won Outstanding Contemporary Costumes at the 76th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
Contents
Cast and characters
Main
Emma Roberts as Anna Victoria Alcott
Matt Czuchry as Dexter Harding Jr.
Kim Kardashian as Siobhan Corbyn
Annabelle Dexter-Jones as
Sonia Shawcross
Adeline Harding
Michaela Jaé Rodriguez as Nicolette Smith
Denis O'Hare as Dr. Andrew Hill
Cara Delevingne as Ivy Ehrenreich
Julie White as Ms. Mavis Preecher
Maaz Ali as Kamal Aman
Recurring
Juliana Canfield as Talia Thompson
Tavi Gevinson as Cora
Zo Tipp as Theo Thompson
Taylor Richardson as Babette Eno
Dominic Burgess as Hamish Moss
Ashlie Atkinson as Susan Pratt
Ryan Spahn as Derek
Billie Lourd as Ashley
Leslie Grossman as Ashleigh
Debra Monk as Virginia Harding
Grace Gummer as Margaret Alcott
Reed Birney as Dexter Harding Sr.
Guest
Andy Cohen as himself
Zachary Quinto as himself (uncredited)
Erin Murray as Elizabeth I
Sophie von Haselberg as Mary I
Taylor Schilling as herself (uncredited)
Carter Hudson as Ned Alcott
Hamish Linklater as himself (uncredited)
Production
Development
On January 9, 2020, American Horror Story was renewed for up to a thirteenth season. On April 10, 2023, series co-creator Ryan Murphy confirmed that the season would have Halley Feiffer as showrunner and be based on Danielle Valentine's upcoming book Delicate Condition, making it the first season in the series' history to not have Murphy as showrunner and to lean into source material. Murphy also announced that the season would be titled Delicate.
Casting
Matt Czuchry joined the twelfth season's cast on April 6, 2023. On April 10, 2023, Murphy announced that the season would be led by Kim Kardashian and series veteran Emma Roberts. Murphy described the season as "ambitious and unlike anything [the series has] ever done" and Kardashian's character as "fun, stylish and ultimately terrifying". Kardashian's involvement in the series is her first in scripted television (besides a one-scene appearance in an episode of the 2008 reboot series of 90210) and was being planned by her and Murphy since 2022, after Murphy was impressed by her work as a host in an October 2021 episode of Saturday Night Live.
On April 24, Cara Delevingne was spotted filming scenes for the season with Roberts. The same week, Annabelle Dexter-Jones and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez joined the cast in undisclosed capacities. On May 1, Variety mentioned Odessa A'zion among the confirmed cast members. In June, People reported that Zachary Quinto confirmed he would make a cameo appearance in the season. The actor also praised Kardashian's performance, stating, "I don't think she needs my advice. She seemed really in her element, and I was really impressed by her spirit and her openness".
Filming
On May 1, during the Met Gala, Kardashian told Variety that production for the season had begun, and her scenes would be filmed later that month. On May 4, the third day of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike in New York City, it was rumored that production had paused. However, Deadline Hollywood reported that filming for the twelfth season did not stop and cast members were using a studio back entrance to avoid the picket line. On May 10, 2023, it was announced that production for the season has stopped due to the strike. Filming was officially suspended in July due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Filming resumed at the end of November 2023 and wrapped on January 22, 2024.
Release
Marketing
On July 20, the season's first teaser trailer was released. Described as "sinister" by press, it presents white-haired women in a circle and motherhood imagery, including Kardashian holding a baby; Kardashian, Roberts and Delevingne are the only actors to appear, with all of them wearing bright red lipstick. The teaser features a modified version of the English nursery rhyme "Rock-a-bye Baby." After watching the teaser, Kyle Denis of Billboard pointed out Rosemary's Baby (1968) as a possible inspiration for the season. A full trailer was released on September 6.
Broadcast
On August 15, FX announced that American Horror Story: Delicate would be split into two parts, and that the first part would premiere on September 20, 2023. Following the release of the first episode, subsequent episodes were scheduled to air weekly on Thursdays. In Canada, the season premiered simultaneously with the United States, with episodes of Delicate airing on FX at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT beginning September 20. In the United States, the second part of four episodes premiered on April 3, 2024.
Streaming
New episodes of American Horror Story: Delicate were made available for streaming on Hulu at 3:00 a.m. ET on Thursdays. Internationally, the series was made available to stream on Disney+.
American Horror Story debuted at No. 1 on Hulu's "Top 15 Today"—a daily updated list of the platform's most-watched titles—on its first full day of release. JustWatch, a guide to streaming content with access to data from more than 20 million users around the world, reported that it was the seventh most-streamed television series in the U.S. during the week of September 18–24, 2023. It subsequently moved to ninth place for the period from September 25 to October 15, 2023. The streaming aggregator Reelgood, which tracks real-time data from 5 million U.S. users for original and acquired content across SVOD and AVOD services, announced that it was the ninth most-streamed program in the U.S. during the week of October 12, 2023. Market research company Parrot Analytics, which looks at consumer engagement in consumer research, streaming, downloads, and on social media, announced that American Horror Story was the most in-demand horror series of 2023. American Horror Story subsequently became one of the most in-demand horror series of 2024, alongside titles such as Kaiju No. 8, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, according to Parrot Analytics.
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 77% critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.6/10, based on 13 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "American Horror Story reins in its Grand Guignol excess for a softer touch in Delicate, refreshing the series' formula with a slow-burn chiller about the anxieties of pregnancy." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
JP Mangalindan of People reported that multiple critics praised the performance of Kim Kardashian upon the season premiere. Anthony D'Alessandro of Deadline Hollywood called her "perfect" for the role of Siobhan Corbyn. Patrick Ryan of USA Today stated that Kardashian succeeded to embody the valley girl persona in a clever way. Coleman Spilde of The Daily Beast found Kardashian to be the best element of the season, while also complimenting the performance of Emma Roberts. Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave Delicate a grade of three out of five stars, said that Kardashian provides a new and better screen presence compared to other media she starred in, and found Delicate to be more accessible than the previous seasons owing to its focus on the thriller genre.
Ratings
On October 4, 2023, American Horror Story had the highest reported total audience with 366,000 viewers (P2+) and a 0.12% rating. Among adults aged 18–49, the peak was 129,200 viewers (0.10 rating) on the same date. The most recent episode, aired on April 24, 2024, drew 232,000 total viewers (0.07 rating), including 105,500 viewers aged 18–49 (0.08 rating) and 187,500 household viewers (0.15 rating). Across this period, total viewership (P2+) ranged from 158,000 to 366,000, while ratings among adults 18–49 varied between 0.03% and 0.10%.
Accolades
The series was one of 200 television series that received the ReFrame Stamp for the years 2023 to 2024. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame and industry database IMDbPro for film and television projects that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring, with stamps being awarded to projects that hire female-identifying people, especially women of color, in four out of eight key roles for their production.