‘American Horror Story: Murder House’ Character Joins ‘Apocalypse’ in Season Premiere

The season premiere of American Horror Story: Apocalypse welcomed back a key Murder House character, marking the first crossover of the season.

Much of the season eight premiere of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s horror anthology spent time establishing a new world built under the ruins of a nuclear winter in Outpost 3, a doomsday bunker where survivors, either hand selected or having paid their way in, are forced to follow three strict rules – address the leader (Sarah Paulson) only as Ms. Venable, no going outside, and no unauthorized copulation.

Fast forward 18 months into their ordeal, the survivors just barely clinging to their sanity, and Apocalypse introduced its first crossover character: Anti-Christ Michael Langdon (Cody Fern), the very child who was prophesized to “usher in the end of times.”

Michael, the son of Murder House‘s ghostly resident Tate Langdon (Evan Peters) and then-human Vivien Harmon (Connie Britton), made his introduction to the season just minutes before the premiere’s end, fittingly being introduced as Patience and Prudence song “Tonight You Belong to Me,” which played multiple times throughout the series’ debut season, played in the background.

Riding in on a horse and carriage, a now fully-ground Michael delivers a message to Ms. Venable: three outposts have already been overrun, the remaining three will not last, and that he is there to evaluate the survivors of Outpost 3 and select the most-worthy to take to another facility that has enough supplies to last a decade.

“The good news is there’s another facility, a sanctuary,” Michael says. “I can take all of you or none of you.”

Unfortunately, those not selected will die, and Michael’s presence thwarts Ms. Venable’s plan to abandon The Cooperative and plan a coup.

It is not yet known how Michael played into the end of the world, brought about by ballistic missiles and World War III, something that seemed planned by some faction, as noted by a news anchor proclaiming “I can’t believe we actually did it,” but it is presumed that Michael had a role in it and has come into his own as the Anti-Christ.

It also remains to be seen how the other crossover characters, including Michael’s parents and other relatives as well as the coven of Salem descendants from season three, will play into the season, though it is possible that The Cooperative is linked to witchcraft.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse, the series’ 10-episode long eighth installment, airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET on FX.