Everything we know about American Horror Story: Hotel (so far) 

last October, but it wasn’t until Lady Gaga revealed she’d be heading up a

did we know what to expect. Ever since the February announcement, casting news and bloodstained clips have teased what a stay will be like at the Hotel Cortez. Hotel owner Gaga gave us some inside scoop when she graced our cover last month, but here’s an all-in-one study guide to

’s upcoming 13-episode installment before check-in begins Oct. 7.

A haunted hotel set in downtown Los Angeles, run by Mother Monster Lady Gaga.

•Sarah Paulson as Hypodermic Sally, a drug addict

•Evan Peters as James March, mass murderer and builder of Hotel Cortez

•Finn Wittrock as male model Tristan Duffy

•Denis O’Hare as movie icon Liz Taylor (but not 

The actress carried the first four seasons, but passed on

to head back to Broadway. Still, creator Ryan Murphy revealed she’s not gone for good. “It’s always possible,” he told EW. “I’m trying to deal with her play schedule. She wants to come back, we just have to come up with something.”

•Lady Gaga as Elizabeth/The Countess, the hotel’s owner

•Max Greenfield as Gabriel, a platinum blond Hollywood junkie

•Cheyenne Jackson as fashion icon Will Drake

Want more? EW’s Fall TV Preview mega-issue has the scoop on 115 shows! Pick up your copy on newsstands now, or buy it here.

What can fans expect from the Halloween episode this year?

Each year’s chapter celebrating Oct. 31 has taken the plot in a new direction and left viewers shocked at the latest ways Murphy manages to scare them s—less. This year will be no different, bringing back Lily Rabe for part one as a serial killer who attends Hotel Cortez’s dinner party from hell. As for the second hour, Darren Criss plays a hipster who checks into the hotel with his stuck-up girlfriend to escape trick-or-treaters.

So far, we know Hotel Cortez guests can expect people sewn into mattresses, creepy blonde children, and a particularly haunting room that March used as his office. This season also includes that which Murphy calls “the most disturbing scene we’ve ever done.”

Yes! Murphy revealed last year that each installment is connected, and in

, we return to the first season’s Murder House. Marcy (Christine Estabrook), the haunted abode’s real estate agent, also returns to list the Hotel Cortez. Murphy has also said that people we’ll recognize from previous seasons will check into the hotel.

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