2 weeks ago, it was announced that Patti LaBelle had joined the cast of "American Horror Story: Freak Show," in a recurring role, playing the mother of Gabourey Sidibe’s character – a character we’ve now learned will be quite opposite to the character she played last season; next season, in "Freak Show," Sidibe will play a well-off, impeccably-dressed art school graduate who comes back to town to deal with a family matter.

LaBelle, as her mother, will be a local townsperson who begins to unravel the murderous secrets of "Twisty the clown killer."

LaBelle joins the returning Sidibe, as well as Angela Bassett, Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Frances Conroy and Kathy Bates, who are all joined by newcomers to the group, Michael Chiklis and Wes Bentley.

Set in Jupiter, Florida, in 1950, "Freak Show" finds Lange playing a German ex-pat who is managing one of the last freak shows in the USA. Her group of freak show performers include Bassett along with Bates, Paulson, Peters, and Conroy – all acts whom Lange’s character has rescued, and who will do anything to make sure that their business sticks around.

During a panel at San Diego Comic-Con a couple of weekends ago, key cast and crew of "American Horror Story: Freak Show" – the next installment of the FX hit franchise – didn’t share any juicy details on the upcoming season as you might expect. 

But they did reveal the names of the characters they’ll each play in "Freak Show," as well as some of the relationships between those characters.

Specifically, and maybe of most interest to readers of this blog, Angela Bassett, who made her "American Horror Story" debut last season, ("Coven") will play a character called Desiree Dupre in "Freak Show." Dupre will be married to a man named Wendell del Tolito, who’ll be played by Michael Chiklis (his first time as a member of the franchise’s cast). And as was the case last season, in "Coven," characters played by Bassett and Kathy Bates will continue to be at war with one another, because, in "Freak Show," Bates character, Effil Darling, will be del Tolito’s ex-wife. So the new wife (Bassett) and the ex-wife (Bates) aren’t exactly going to be chummy with one another.

The rest of the character names, and the actors playing them, follows:

– Jessica Lange is playing Elsa Mars
– Emma Roberts is playing Maggie
– Sarah Paulson is playing Bette and Dot Tattler
– Evan Peters is playing Jimmy Darling

Peters’ character is the son of Chiklis’ character, by the way. The son he had with his ex-wife, played by Bates. Bassett’s character will be his stepmother.

Shooting is underway in New Orleans.

The hit show received a total of 17 Primetime Emmy nominations this year.

Season 4 debuts Wednesday, October 8 at 10 PM ET/PT.

FX has released an official first teaser for the upcoming season, which is embedded below: