Meet the Twisted Characters of American Horror Story: Hotel

At the Summer TCA panel, Paulson said that her "sort of dark" character Sally is a drug addict who is "unlike anything I’ve ever done on the show," and very sexy. Sally lives at the hotel and revealed that she has "a kind of budding something with Wes’s character." She also has a very clear enemy: Sally hates Kathy Bates's character Iris "in a rather ancient way for reasons that are revealed quickly." Paulson also told EW that Sally "will put a stiletto in your face if it means she can get what she needs. But she’s also like a broken rag doll."

Bates revealed at the Summer TCA that Iris runs the hotel and has relationships with characters played by Wes Bentley, Denis O'Hare, but the feeling of hatred Iris gets from Paulson's character Sally is mutual. Iris "can’t stand" Sally. She also happens to be the mother of Matt Bomer's character Donovan. "Iris is overprotective with a capital O, especially now since her son is ill," Bates told EW. "She wants to be there every day to make sure he’s all right, and she’s very controlling that way.

Ryan Murphy filled us in on Gaga's character since she was not at the Summer TCA panel. Her name is Elizabeth, and she's the hotel owner who is a "very wealthy social doyenne" who is "consumed with art and fashion and people." Murphy said that she "has a nefarious plan that is revealed in the first episode." According to EW, she is known by the Countess, and she in the middle of a love triangle with Donovan and male model Tristan (Finn Wittrock). Oh, she also drinks blood.

During the TCA panel, Wittrock said his character Tristan is a male model who's always "looking for the next high," and he finds the "biggest high in Lady Gaga's [character]." He also said, "she sees all of me." Um, is that a promise of nudity? "He’s got an addictive personality," he told EW. "I think he’s hypersexual also. It makes him a prime candidate for the Countess’s charms and he is very willingly seduced and then turned by her."

Bassett told the crowd at TCA that her character Ramona is a "fabulous actress of the day," who doesn't live at the hotel but visits very often. She also used to have a romantic relationship with the Countess, and according to EW, Ramona and Donovan team up to team revenge out on the Countess.

During the TCA panel, Jackson said that his character, Will Drake, is a fashion icon who is "trying to creatively re-establish himself," which is why he moves from New York to LA and into the hotel. He's also "a little desperate," Jackson added. In a really awesome twist, he also visits the Murder House from the first season!

Bentley revealed during the TCA panel that his character is suffering from a recent "great loss in [his] family." He's throwing himself in his work, living at the Hotel Cortez while trying to find the Ten Commandments Killers, according to EW.

Sevigny's character, a pediatrician, is the wife of Bentley's character. EW says that the couple will "get sucked into the Cortez's darkness."

Yes, you read that name right. O'Hare is not actually playing the iconic actress, but a character who is inspired by her and the "awesomeness of things like Butterfield 8 and Cleopatra." He revealed during TCA that he shaved his head for the part, "and other body parts." "Liz" is an employee of the hotel who works in the bar, called the Blue Parrot Lounge.

Recurring cast member Peters is playing James March, the intensely disturbed man who builds the Hotel Cortez in the 1930s. "He’s designed a hotel to cater to his specific needs," Peters told EW. "Which tend toward the dark evil."

EW got the scoop on Claudia, a Vogue editor who ends up regretting her stay at the Hotel Cortez. "She’s kind of outlandish,"Campbell revealed. "She thinks she’s indestructible and nothing’s going to hurt her."

Though Greenfield's character was originally supposed to be preppy, he told EW that Murphy transformed Gabriel into a more rock and roll kind of guy. He also described the character as a "Hollywood Junkie."