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The New American Horror Story Timeline Explained

We break down what changed and what stayed the same

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Sadie Gennis

If you thought American Horror Story doing a crossover season between Murder House and Coven was radical, then you should probably sit down and grab some smelling salts because Ryan Murphy has really done it this time. The season finale of Apocalypse saw Cordelia's (Sarah Paulson) coven successfully defeat Michael Langdon (Cody Fern) by reversing the nuclear apocalypse thanks to Mallory's (Billie Lourd) ability to travel through time. Mallory used this power to go back to 2015 and kill Michael by running him over with her car.

As anyone who watched the Ashton Kutcher classic The Butterfly Effect knows killing Michael in 2015 not only has major consequences on the entire timeline we had seen play out in Apocalypse, aka it erased it, but it also will likely have far-reaching effects throughout the American Horror Story universe. If a butterfly flapping its wings can create a tsunami on the other side of the world, imagine what a difference killing the Antichrist does?

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While we'll likely never know the full extent of how much, if at all, this decision changed things in other seasons -- particularly Hotel, Roanokeand Cult, which largely took place from 2015 onward -- what it means for Apocalypse, including our favorite characters from Murder Houseand Coven, is drastic enough.

To make things simple, we broke down the full timeline of Apocalypse, showing what changed and what stayed the same below. We also included when the major events of other seasons whose timelines overlapped with Apocalypse to get a sense of how much they may be affected by this new timeline that Mallory created.

​Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Apocalypse
FX

2011

• The Harmons move into the Murder House. Vivien conceives Michael and Jeffrey. (Unchanged.)


2012

• Vivian dies giving birth to her twins. Jeffrey dies but Michael lives and is taken in by Constance. (Unchanged.)


2013

• The main events of Coven begin. (Unchanged.)


2014

• Cordelia becomes the Supreme. Misty gets stuck in Hell. Madison is killed. Myrtle is burned at the stake. Marie is forced to torture Delphine for eternity in Hell. (Unchanged.)

My Roanoke Nightmare is filmed. (Likely unchaged.)


2015

• Michael kills Constance's housekeeper. Michael grows up overnight. Constance kicks Michael out of her house. (Unchanged.)

• Constance ends her life. Michael goes to the Murder House. Vivien stops speaking to Ben because he begins therapy sessions with Michael. Michael tries to kill Vivien but is stopped by Tate. Michael joins Mead and the Satanists. Cordelia resurrects Myrtle for extra help in preventing the impending apocalypse. (Changed: Constance lives. Vivien and Ben never stop speaking. Myrtle is never resurrected. Instead, Mallory kills Michael, preventing the apocalypse and all of these incidents.)

• Mallory enrolls at Miss Robichaux's. (Unclear: We don't know for sure when Mallory enrolled in Robichaux's in the original timeline, nor do we know what happened to the original Mallory in 2015. It's possible this is where the two Mallory timelines merge into one.)

• Mallory has Misty resurrected. Mallory reveals she plans on resurrecting Madison at a later date. (Changed: None of these events happened in the original timeline. Madison and Misty remained dead until Michael resurrected them in 2017.)

• Queenie is killed by Ramona Royale while staying at the Hotel Cortez. (Changed: Queenie lives because Mallory warns her never to go to the Cortez in the new timeline.)

• The bulk of Hotel takes place. (Likely unchanged with the exception of Queenie's death.)


2016

• Return to Roanoke: Three Days in Hell is filmed. (Likely unchanged.)

• The main events of Cult begin. (Likely unchanged.)


2017

• Michael kills a butcher who insulted Mead. He is arrested and then goes to live with the warlocks. Michael performs the Seven Wonders, resurrects Queenie, Madison and Misty, and is named the next Supreme. (Changed: In the new timeline, Michael is already dead so all of these events are erased. Plus, Queenie was never killed, Misty was already resurrected by Mallory in 2015, and Madison has likely been resurrected at this point as well.)

• Madison and Behold Chablis go to the Murder House where they free Moira to reunite with her mother in the afterlife and help Violet and Tate reconcile. (Changed: Madison and Behold never go to the Murder House in the new timeline, so Madison wasn't around to cast the spell on Zoe that led to her getting back together with Tate. Moira also remains trapped in the Murder House, but at least Constance's ghost isn't trapped there with her.)

• Coco St. Pierre Vanderbilt arrives at Miss Robichaux's. (Likely unchanged.)

• Cordelia tries and fails to make a deal with Papa Legba through her connection with Dinah Stevens. Baldwin, Ariel and Mead are burned at the stake for killing John Henry, trying to kill the witches and supporting Michael. Michael vows to destroy the witches to avenge Mead's death. Michael winds up at the Satanist Temple and is introduced to Mutt and Jeff, who create the Mead cyborg and position Michael as leader of The Cooperative. (Changed: All of these events are erased.)

• Dinah sells her soul to Michael in exchange for a daytime TV talk show. Michael kills most of the witches, including Queenie and Zoe. Cordelia, Myrtle, Madison, Coco and Mallory escape and decide to use Mallory's ability to travel through time to stop Michael. Cordelia places Coco and Mallory under identity spells. Coco meets Gallant and Brock. (Changed: All of these events are erased.)

• The events of Roanoke wrap up. (Likely unchanged.)


2018

The main events of Cult wrap up. (Likely unchanged.)


2020

• The nuclear apocalypse happens. Most of humanity is wiped out. Timothy and Emily are taken by The Cooperative and sent to Outpost 3. Cordelia, Madison and Myrtle survive in Misty's swamp mud. (Changed: All of these events are erased.)

Timothy and Emily meet outside a coffee shop where Emily had been protesting and Timothy asks Emily on their first date. (Changed: None of these events happened in the original timeline.)


2021

• Michael arrives at Outpost 3. Michael tricks Gallant into killing his grandmother Evie. Michael manipulates Mead into fatally poisoning Mallory, Andre, Dinah, Timothy, Emily and Gallant. Mead kills Venable on Michael's orders. Brock sneaks into Outpost 3 and kills Coco. Cordelia trades Dinah's soul for Marie Laveau's with Papa Legba. Cordelia, Madison, Myrtle and Marie arrive at the outpost and resurrect Mallory, Coco and Dinah. The final battle between Michael and the witches occur, during which Dinah, Mead, Brock, Madison, Marie and Coco are killed. Cordelia sacrifices herself so that Mallory has the strength to travel back in time and prevent the apocalypse. (Changed: All of these events are erased.)

Emily gives birth to her son with Timothy, Devan. (Changed: None of these events happened in the original timeline.)


2022

• Billie Dean Howard attends Devil's Night at the Hotel Cortez. (Likely unchanged.)


2024

• Devan kills his babysitter. The Satanists, including Anton LaVey and Mead, arrive at Timothy and Emily's to foster the new Antichrist, Devan. (Changed: None of these events happened in the original timeline.)


If this still isn't enough for you, you can check out our full series American Horror Story timeline right here.

American Horror Story is available to stream on Netflix and Hulu.

Photos: 13 Stars You Forgot Were On American Horror Story

​Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Apocalypse
FX