American Horror Story: Delicate is the twelfth season of American Horror Story, airing on FX Networks in 2023. It is the first season to be based on existing source material—the novel Delicate Condition by Danielle Valentine. It is also the first season to be written and showrun without either Ryan Murphy or Brad Falchuck, with Hailey Feiffer leading production.
In modern New York, actress Anna Victoria Alcott and her husband Dex are desperate to have a child, but as the date for Anna's embryo transplant grows near, strange things keep happening.
The series stars AHS regular Emma Roberts as Anna, as well as a number of Murphy's veterans, including Mj Rodriguez, Denis O'Hare, Billie Lourd, and Leslie Grossman along with newcomers Cara Delevingne and Kim Kardashian.
American Horror Story: Delicate contains examples of:
- Adaptation Name Change: In the book, Talia's partner is named Keagan. Here, their name is Theo.
- Adaptational Gender Identity: In the book, Talia's partner is trans and uses he/him pronouns. Here, however, Talia's spouse is non-binary.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the book the witches are actually trying to help Anna with her pregnancy, in the show they’re an evil cult.
- As Himself: Andy Cohen in the first episode when Anna is a guest on Watch What Happens Live.
- Child Hater: Anna and Dex's friend Talia really hates kids, and has a very low opinion of motherhood.
- Gender Flip: In the book, Dr. Hill is a woman. Here, Dr. Hill is a man.
- Innocently Insensitive: In the first episode, Anna and Dex are having dinner with their friends Talia and Theo when Talia starts talking about how much she misses Adeline, Dex's first wife. Later, when Talia tries to apologize, she starts talking about how much she hates kids, unaware that Anna is trying to get pregnant.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Anna and Dex want a child of their own, but suffer from unexplained fertility issues. At the beginning of the series, they are said to be commencing their third attempt at IVF.
- Loony Fan: In the second episode, Anna runs into a pushy fan in the bathroom, panics, and sends the woman colliding with a sink.
- Lost Lenore: Dex lost his first wife Adeline under tragic circumstances, and has never really gotten over her. It's very awkward for his current wife Anna, as many of their friends were friends with Adeline as well and talk about her frequently.
- Noodle Incident: According to Siobhan, the team she hires to help Anna through her PR crisis has helped a long list of celebrities through similar circumstances… including Meryl Streep. Apparently they're so good at their jobs that whatever Meryl did was never made public.
- Obscene OB-GYN: Something is off about Anna's fertility specialist, Dr. Hill, between the condescending way he talks to her and the way he keeps having side conversations with her husband about her even when she's standing right in front of them.
- Really 700 Years Old: Adeline and Sonia were born in 42 AD.
- Shout-Out: Anna's doctor being named Dr. Hill may be a reference to the character of the same name from Rosemary's Baby.
- Take That!: Towards Olivia Wilde and the press tour for her movie Don't Worry Darling:"We're going to play the Wilde card - as in Olivia Wilde. Don't mention what happened and wait until everyone forgets, slash low-key gaslight people that do ask, and make them think that they're the problem because, you know…sexism."
- Trophy Wife: Dex's friend Talia has a trophy spouse, Theo, who is nonbinary and apparently quite grumpy about being a trophy spouse.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: In the second episode, Anna vomits profusely at an awards show.
- Womb Horror: The series is loaded with it, as it covers all the anxiety of pregnancy, made worse by the fact that Anna has to deal with those anxieties in front of an audience.
