‘American Horror Story: Apocalypse’ Star Says Michael Isn’t Evil

If you’ve been watching American Horror Story: Apocalypse you might be confused by some of the things going on in the FX horror anthology series, but there is one thing that is pretty evident: Michael Langdon is demonic. He is, after all, the antichrist. However, according to star Cody Fern being the son of Satan might not make Michael evil after all.

In a recent interview with Variety, Fern opened up a bit about his Apocalypse character and said that, the way he sees it, Michael isn’t evil. He just has a lot of purpose.

“I knew that I had to come in with very strong choices about his physical life and his vocal life and how he controlled himself in a room — because playing powerful is difficult, but playing evil is impossible,” Fern said. “Everyone is saying, ‘Oh he’s so evil, he’s so evil’ … [but] I don’t see Michael Langdon as an evil character. I don’t even see him as a bad character. I see him as somebody with a lot of purpose.”

Fern went on to explain that there are various “categories” of evil, but when it comes to Michael he doesn’t actually do anything himself. Instead, he nudges people towards their own desires.

“The world so far, under God’s image, is clearly not working out,” Fern said. “And if this is God’s image — this is how Langdon sees it — then he just pushes that and takes people further down that path … In episodes two and three in particular, you see that Langdon doesn’t actually do anything with his bare hands. He pushes people’s buttons, he tempts them and seduces them and brings out their greatest fears and desires, and then they go about enacting horrific evil while he watches. He acts as a conduit for other people’s evil, I suppose.”

Of course, as long-time fans American Horror Story will tell you, Michael isn’t always simply a conduit. At the very end of Murder House viewers get a glimpse of Michael as a toddler when his grandmother, Constance (Jessica Lange) returns home to discover that little Michael has murdered his nanny. Even on Apocalypse’s most recent episode, Michael took matters into his own hands, killing Misty Day’s (Lily Rabe) tormentor in hell. Those more hands-on forms of evil are things that Fern hinted may be explained in the upcoming episode “Return to Murder House”.

“Without giving too much away, next week we go back to the Murder House and we see his beginnings, and if you remember from the first season, the first death that we see [related to him] is the death of his nanny, but he’s too young to understand the impulses that he’s going through.”

Do you think Michael is evil? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

American Horror Story: Apocalypse airs Wednesdays on FX. “Return to Murder House” airs October 17th.