The wait is over. Tonight is the night you commit yourself to American Horror Story: Asylum. As you already know, the second season of the Ryan Murphy/Brad Falchuk production will play out as an entirely different show than season one. Many familiar faces are returning (namely Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Lily Rabe, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters) but they will be portraying brand new characters this time around. Joining them are Adam Levine, Jenna Dewan, Chloë Sevigny, Clea Duvall, Joseph Fiennes, and James Cromwell. Today, Murphy revealed that Dylan McDermott is also coming back at some point this season; he played lead Ben Harmon last year. Asylum goes back in time to the 1960s and replaces the haunted Harmon house with an east coast mental institution called Briarcliff Manor.
To reiterate, AHS is an anthology series meaning each series will feature new characters, a new setting, and an original story with a beginning, middle, and end. So if you happened to miss out on season one, you can absolutely tune into tonight’s premiere without a problem. However, it is highly recommended you watch the first season because it was very good.
American Horror Story: Asylum premieres tonight (10/17) at 10PM on FX. If you want a taste of the season’s frights, jump after the break to watch a one minute trailer and catch some behind-the-scenes footage with the cast and creators. In the galleries below, browse creepy character profiles and check out the varied key art…if you dare.
Update: Nothing record-breaking to report here, but AHS: Asylum got off to a strong start, both creatively and in the ratings. 3.85 million total viewers committed themselves to last night’s season two premiere “Welcome to Briarcliff;” that’s up 21 percent from last year’s series premiere. In the important adults 18-49 demo the episode attracted 2.78 million viewers (a 2.20 rating, up 37 percent), trailing only CBS’ CSI for the night. In adults 18-34 the ep attracted 1.78 million viewers (2.63 rating, up 50 percent) making it the highest rated program at 10PM across cable and broadcast networks in that demo. The episode managed to rank higher in the ratings than every episode from the first season. Are you committed? Share your thoughts on the season premiere in the comment section below.
[Images via FX]