‘AHS: Apocalypse’: Sarah Paulson’s Supreme Is in Some Big Trouble

Never think you can predict anything that happens in American Horror Story. For years now we thought that nothing could overpower Coven‘s Cordelia, partially because she was the all-powerful Supreme witch and partially because she’s played by Sarah Paulson. But Apocalypse just threw all of that out the window. Spoilers for AHS: Apocalypse Episodes 1-4 ahead.

“Could It Be…Satan?” started on a left turn and never let up. After at least a season and a half of focusing on witches and never mentioning their male counterparts, AHS revealed that warlocks do in fact exist. Not only that but they’re as memeable as our favorite coven of witches. Here’s what we learned about the complicated lives of magical people and what that may mean for our favorite Supreme and antichrist.

Who are the warlocks?

After Coven ignored anyone who wasn’t a sassy diva, Apocalypse introduced us to a warlock school much like Miss Robichaux’s Academy. From what we can tell, during the warlock school’s prime it was run by four Level 3 magic masters played by Billy Porter, Jon Jon Briones, Cheyenne Jackson, and BD Wong. Yep, Billy Porter and BD Wong are now in Apocalypse and at one point they were in the same coven. The warlocks really need their own show.

These four took in Michael Langdon (Cody Fern) after he performed magic while under arrest. They soon discovered that Langdon was more powerful then they ever realized, able to effortlessly perform every test they threw at him. Naturally Cheyenne Jackson’s character was skeptical of this newcomer, but the rest were excited to see Langdon face off against the current Supreme, Cordelia (Paulson).

Episode 4 ends with Langdon and Cordelia finally seeing each other for the first time. But since most of this episode takes place three years in the past and Apocalypse is set in the husk of the warlock school, there’s a good chance their face-off didn’t go well.

Can Langdon be the Supreme?

We learn a lot about witch and warlock mythology in this episode. The most powerful warlock in a coven is called the Alpha. But the most powerful witch in her coven as well as the magical community is the Supreme. Supremes are always witches because testosterone prevents male magic users from connecting with the ethereal (god bless this show). That means AHS has a long secret history of magical men feeling oppressed by women.

That’s when Langdon and his disarming powers shows up. To prove himself to Cordelia and her coven, Langdon traveled to Hotel Cortez, the center of AHS: Hotel. Once there, he rescued Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe) and Madison (Emma Roberts) from their own personal hells — something Cordelia was never able to do. This all but proves that Langdon is more powerful than AHS‘ most powerful character. That’s not good for our favorite bitchy witches.

Is Langdon really a warlock?

All signs point to no on this one. Another Sarah Paulson character, Murder House‘s resident psychic Billie Dean Howard, said that Micael Langdon was the antichrist. I’m not sure how much we can trust in Apocalypse, but we can at least trust the antichrist.

What does Langdon’s power mean for Cordelia?

At the moment it’s unclear. As mentioned before, most of the events of “Could It Be… Satan?” happened three years in the past. There’s a very real possibility that Cordelia and Langdon have fought each other before, and it didn’t go well. But that leaves several questions the present-day timeline needs to answer before they face-off again.

Are five witches and a Supreme enough to fight Langdon? What exactly are these two supernatural head honchos fighting over? What’s Langdon’s plan? Will Dinah (Adina Porter) and her voodoo eventually join Cordelia’s side? When did Cordelia lose Queenie again, and where’s Zoe (Taissa Farmiga)? And where the hell is Misty Day (Lily Rabe) in all of this? We know she’s coming back with Stevie Nicks.

One thing’s for sure. A Cordelia and Langdon battle is in our future, and we are here for it.

New episodes of American Horror Story: Apocalypse premiere on FX Wednesdays at 10/9c.

Watch American Horror Story: Apocalypse on FXNOW and FX+