American Horror StoryApocalypse’s ambitious multi-season crossover storyline created a somewhat confusing timeline. Characters from previous seasons were brought back and new characters traveled through time, effectively changing the show’s canon. Just as the subtitle—Apocalypse—suggests, American Horror Story season 8 chronicles the end of times. The first chunk of the season centers around a group of new characters who were chosen at random to survive the nuclear bomb that just hit. Eventually, the coven from American Horror Story season 3 was brought in to help reverse the apocalypse and stop the Antichrist who caused it.
In order to reverse the apocalypse, the witches must visit the titular house from American Horror Story season 1; the reason for their return is to learn more about how to defeat Michael Langdon (Cody Fern), who was born during the events of Murder House. The interesting choices taken during Apocalypse‘s convoluted timeline would have actually made a perfect final season for American Horror Story. However, the series continued, and the chronological events of American Horror Story season 8 had a massive impact on the show’s future.
The root of evil in American Horror Story started with the birth of Michael Langdon in the year 2012. In American Horror Story: Murder House, the unfortunate Harmon family moves into a cursed house. Vivian Harmon (Connie Britton) believes she conceives twins with her husband Ben (Dylan McDermott), but it’s later revealed that the angry spirit of Tate Langdon (Evan Peters) is the one who gets her pregnant. Vivian and one twin died during childbirth.
The Harmons’ neighbor—and the children’s biological paternal grandmother, Constance (Jessica Lange)—takes the surviving twin and names him Michael. American Horror Story: Murder House ends with the toddler gleefully smiling at his grandmother after viciously murdering his babysitter. It’s an ominous sign that the union of human and spirit created something evil — the Antichrist. Michael’s birth paves the way for the events of American Horror Story season 8. In the Christian faith, it is said that the birth of the Antichrist will bring about the end of days. That’s exactly what happens with Michael’s birth.
Once the witches realizehe is the Antichrist and that his presence brought on the end of the world, they make it their mission to go back in time to stop him. They ultimately succeed, even if American Horror Story season 8 proves that it’s just temporary. Ending the show with Michael’s demise would have been a nice bookend to the evil that he caused. Instead, American Horror Story used it to prove that evil will always exist in the world.
American Horror Story: Apocalypse continues season 3’s storyline of finding the next Supreme for the witches’ coven. While Michael is technically only five years old at this point, he has aged rapidly as his powers have manifested. Michael’s grandmother killed herself after she couldn’t cope with his evil nature. After her death, he was eventually taken in by a group of warlocks — a fraternal order, given the hierarchy between witches and warlocks.
In American Horror Story, witches consider warlocks to be inferior to their kind. However, four years after the events of season 3, Michael rose to power and eventually exhibited signs that he would be the next Supreme. After completing each step of the Seven Wonders, he was eventually crowned Supreme of all witches and warlocks. This role leads to him getting connected with the Cooperative, which is the organization that eventually brings on the apocalypse.
The Cooperative brings on the apocalypse in the year 2020, which is the year that American Horror Story: Apocalypse begins its story. Season 8 of the show moves back and forth in time, but 2020/2021 is considered to be present-day for the events of the show. Apocalypse took place about 18 months in the future from when the show first aired.
Normally, American Horror Story takes place in the past or around the present day, but the choice to set season 8 of the show ever-so-slightly in the future was smart and deliberate. That allowed for Michael’s birth and rise to specifically fall within the events of previous seasons. It also showed the real significance of Michael’s presence in the world of American Horror Story. There will likely never be another villain as impactful as he was on the show.
Mallory (Billie Lourd) is revealed to be a powerful witch who will eventually succeed Cordelia as the Supreme. When the witches from American Horror Story: Coven become desperate to stop Michael in 2021, Cordelia realizes that Mallory’s growing power is a sign that she is strong enough to cast a time travel spell.
Mallory succeeds in casting the spell and travels back to the year 2015. Michael was on the verge of discovering his powers but had not yet succumbed to his evil nature. Mallory takes advantage of this, tracks him down and runs him over with a car — repeatedly. It’s a cliché and anticlimactic death, but a big deal to American Horror Story canon, as this event wipes out all events that are connected to Michael in the future.
In the original timeline of the show, American Horror Story’s Emily and Timothy are two teens who fall in love after they are randomly chosen to survive the apocalypse. Even though Mallory undoes everything Michael caused by killing him in 2015, the pair still meet in the year 2020 and fall in love. A year later, they have a son named Devan. In the year 2024, the young parents enjoy a night out and leave their son at home with a babysitter. They comment on a few strange occurrences — the house is boiling hot and a murder of crows constantly circles them.
After they walk inside and see that Devan has murdered his babysitter, a group of Satanists arrive. As these are essentially the same events that happened with Michael in Murder House, it teases that Devan is the next incarnation of the Antichrist. Mallory’s time-traveling only killed one incarnation of the Antichrist by getting rid of Michael; destiny can’t be thwarted as easily. American Horror Story season 8 comments on the show’s most important theme — evil is always out there, and nobody can stop it from happening.