OK Seriously, How Old Is Michael Langdon? We Did the Math and We're Confused

Updated on Oct 10, 2018 at 6:00 PM

As we dive deeper into the end of the world on American Horror Story, we're learning more and more about the ways Murder House, Coven, and Apocalypse all intersect. And, when it comes to these tenuous connections between seasons, the one thread that goes through everything is the one and only Michael Langdon (aka the Antichrist). But there's something strange about this mysterious character: we can't seem to figure out how old he's supposed to be. After all, he hasn't been on Earth for even a decade when he arrives in Apocalypse. At the same time, he also looks like he might have seen 1994's Interview With a Vampire in theaters as a teenager and decided to based his entire aesthetic off of the characters.

Don't worry, we're on the case. Thanks to a new interview with Cody Fern, we have a bit more insight into the way Michael Langdon works. And, just for fun, we've established a timeline of his life based on what we've learned so far, just to figure out how old he is (physically and mentally) at each age we see him.

The Full Timeline

March/April 2012: Michael Langdon is born just six months after being conceived by Tate Langdon and Vivien Harmon.
Spring 2015: At age three, Michael murders his nanny while under the care of Constance Langdon. Physically, he looks like he could be 5 or 6.
June 2017: Three years before the bomb. Michael, age 5, is living with an adoptive mother (he doesn't know how she found him), who is a Satan worshiper. He gets thrown in jail after murdering a supermarket butcher, then discovered by a coven of warlocks. Physically, he looks like he's about 16.
March/April 2020: The bomb goes off.
Oct. 2021: Michael arrives at Outpost 3. His most recent emails are dated Oct. 2021, and we know it's been 18 months since the bombs first fell. Michael is nine and a half, but looks like he's in his 20s, maybe even his 30s.

The New Cody Fern Interview

In a recent interview with Decider, Cody Fern talked about Langdon's age. Though he didn't necessarily establish why, he did cop to the fact that there are two Michael Langdons wrestling with reality in Apocalypse: one who represents how Michael looks (the teenager), and one who represents his actual age (the child). Fern said Michael is "coming to discover that he has intense feelings about things" in the world, both "as this emotional 15-year-old, but also as this emotional 6-year-old."

In the same interview, Fern offered a few more hints about this duality within the character. "What's really important about Langdon is that Langdon is the Antichrist, you know? He is the version of Christ who comes from Satan," he said. "There are things that he does that are cruel or evil or whatever you want to call them. But at the same time this is something that he has been born into. So there is a sense of, what is he controlling and what is he not controlling?"

"He is not immortal," Fern also said. "He is a human form of Satan himself."

The Conclusion

So, where does that leave us? Fern is tipping us off to the fact that Langdon isn't your average human man. Our best guess is that he matures at a rapid rate. After all, when Vivien is pregnant with Michael, he's fully formed after six months, so strong that he's siphoning the life from his twin.

Still, there are some strange inconsistencies. The jump in growth between 2012 and 2015 seems to be very slight, while the leap from 2015 to 2017 is much more substantial. And in the four years between 2017 and 2021, when Michael arrives at Outpost 3, the changes are even more remarkable. Is it possible his growth accelerates with every year? At the same time, will it plateau at some point? Will he simply remain a grown man who walks the Earth as Satan's son? Or will he age like the rest of us, or much faster?

These answers are still not available, and there's not much theorizing we can do. The reality is, though, we may never have to wonder; we assume the season will come to some grim conclusion without having to talk about the later phases of Michael's life.