Why did Evan Peters leave American Horror Story? Real reason behind his disappearance, explained

American Horror Story season 12 is slated to host its second episode on Wednesday, September 27. Titled Rockabye, it has been directed by Jennifer Lynch and penned by Halley Feiffer. Season 12, American Horror Story: Delicate, stars original actors such as Emma Roberts, Leslie Grossman, Billie Lourd, and Denis O'Hare.

Despite appearing across nine seasons of American Horror Story, the ongoing edition has one OG actor missing: Evan Peters.

Delicate is his third missed season, following 1984 (season 9) and NYC (season 11).

Season 10, Double Feature, released in 2021, turned out to be Evan Peters' last American Horror Story outing. In an interview with GQ, the actor pointed out that playing all the psychotic characters was taking a toll on his mental health.

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Here is exactly why Evan Peters quit American Horror Story

When Peters didn’t appear in 1984 (2019), fans were curious to know the reason behind the same.

To recall, the 36-year-old was seen in all sorts of sinister roles across different seasons of the series, such as serial killers Tate Langdon and James March, cult leaders, etc. Playing such characters was pretty taxing for the young actor, an observation he shared with GQ.

Peters told the publication:

“It's all been a massive stretch for me and really difficult to do. It's hurting my soul and Evan as a person. There’s this massive amount of rage that’s been called upon from me…I don’t feel good.”

Contrary to his image shown in the show, Peters described himself as “goofy, silly,” and someone who liked “to have fun.”

He added:

“I don’t like to yell and scream. I actually hate it…Horror Story sort of demanded that of me. It’s just exhausting. It’s really mentally draining, and you don’t want to go to those places ever in your life. And so you have to go there for the scenes, and it ends up integrating it somehow into your life. You’re in traffic and you find yourself screaming and you’re like, What the hell? This isn’t who I am.”

Interestingly, the impact on his mental health was not the only reason why Evan Peters left the show. He was also getting engaged in other projects, such as Dark Phoenix (2019) and the FX TV series, Pose, among others.

Despite giving 1984 a miss, Peters was back in season 10, titled Double Feature. In it, he played Austin Sommers, a playwright who wasn’t as dark as the other characters he played in the past seasons. However, in seasons 11 and 12 of American Horror Story, NYC, and Delicate, respectively, Peters was absent again.

This time, he didn’t really divulge the reason but reports suggest that it is because the actor got involved in Marvel’s smash hit series, WandaVision, HBO’s Mare of Easttown, and most importantly Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

In WandaVision, he appeared in four episodes as Ralph Bohner / "Pietro Maximoff", while in Mare of Easttown, he was seen as Detective Colin Zabel in four episodes.

However, it was Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a Netflix true crime anthology series, which most likely took a lot from Peters creatively. This was probably the reason why he bid (a forever?) goodbye to American Horror Story.

The second episode of American Horror Story: Delicate, titled Rockabye, will air on FX on September 27.