American Horror Story: Apocalypse: Will Michael Free the Murder House Ghosts?

After killing off almost the entire cast last week, American Horror Story: Apocalypse slowed down for its latest episode, which detailed Michael Langdon's (Cody Fern) backstory. But this dip into the past spawned a very interesting theory about what the future of Apocalypse might hold.

Three years before the bombs went off, Michael had been brought to the Hawthorne School for warlocks where he proved to be a student of great promise -- and darkness, as council member John Henry Moore (Cheyenne Jackson) regularly points out. But after only one month at Hawthorne's underground facility, which is what Outpost 3 used to be, Michael's powers are so undeniable that even John Henry Moore must agree with his fellow council members when they say that Michael appears to be the Alpha, a warlock so powerful that his abilities rise to the level of Supreme (something which was actually foreshadowed in Murder House.)

The warlock council calls Cordelia (Sarah Paulson), Myrtle (Frances Conroy) and Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) to Hawthorne, where they request that Cordelia administers the Seven Wonders on Michael. Cordelia refuses because she doesn't want to risk his death, and also shares the story of her grief over losing one of her own, Queenie (Gabourey Sidibe), who became trapped in the Cortez when she visited in Hotel.

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Although Cordelia tried to rescue Queenie from the Cortez's walls, even the powers of the Supreme weren't able to break the spells of that place, which Cordelia says was not only haunted but the gateway to everything dark and Satanic. Using his Antichrist abilities, Michael overhears all this and decides to prove a point by not only rescuing Queenie from the Cortez but also rescuing Madison (Emma Roberts) from Hell.

While it was a fun twist to have Michael be the one behind Queenie and Madison's resurrections, the implications of his actions go far beyond just simply finding a way to bring these beloved characters back into the fold. This season isn't just about the return of Coven characters, but Murder House ones too. And if Michael's powers are able to break Queenie's internment in the Cortez, why couldn't he do the same for the Murder House ghosts?

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The episode did a great job of showcasing just how powerful Michael is, as well as his twisted disposition, and it seems as though we haven't even begun to scratch the limits of his abilities. There's no reason to assume that the dark powers of the Murder House are any less strong than the Cortez's (they're both hellmouths, essentially), so it should be no issue for Michael to revive and free any of its trapped residents. The question then becomes why Michael would do this.

As Michael explained to Mead (Kathy Bates), he modeled her after "the closest person I ever had to a mother," who is not, interestingly enough, Constance Langdon (Jessica Lange). Michael mentioned that he doesn't know how his Devil-worshipping adopted mother found him, but clearly something happened at some point in Michael's childhood that took him away from the Murder House and Constance (or maybe something happened to Constance at Michael's hand).

We're betting there's a good story there, and one that will likely be revealed in Episode 6, which will feature the returns of Lange, Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott. Perhaps whatever went down between Michael and Constance would give him reasons to free some of the ghosts. Or maybe the episode will focus more on Michael's relationship with his biological parents, Vivien (Britton) and Tate (Evan Peters). With so many complicated family dynamics to parse, it's not hard to imagine Michael freeing one or more of the ghosts for any number of reasons -- to spite Constance, to try to find his place in his family, or even just to build up his army of devilish followers (what's up, Hayden).

Just like how Ryan Murphy found an effortless way to bring deceased Coven characters into the season -- and opening up possibilities for them to appear easily in future seasons as well -- he may want to take the opportunity to do the same with some of the Murder House favorites, and Michael provides a simple means.

Or maybe the reason we wind up taking a trip back to Murder House is because the now alive Madison Montgomery decides to hide out from the devil in her relative's old home and this actually has nothing to do with Michael or freeing ghosts. Unlikely, but you can never rule anything out in this show.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX.