In 2018, the eighth season of Ryan Murphy’s popular FX horror series, American Horror Story: Apocalypse, featured two characters named Timothy and Emily who, in theory, could be Adam and Eve. This particular season focused on the apocalyptic aftermath of nuclear warfare. An organization known as “The Cooperative” carefully selected individuals who fit the necessary biological requirements to restart the human race; to them, Timothy (Kyle Allen) and Emily (Ash Santos) are ideal candidates.
When Timothy is introduced, members of The Cooperative are taking him from his family because he has superior genetics. When he meets Emily, she reveals that she was taken for the same reason. As the eighth season of American Horror Story progresses, the two develop a romantic relationship within the bunker. Regardless of their passionate affair, they die at the hands of the leaders of the outpost, Mead (Kathy Bates) and Venable (Sarah Paulson). When a young witch named Mallory turns back time and stops the apocalypse, Timothy and Emily meet by complete accident at college.
They were always destined to meet in some way or another, whether it happened as a result of the apocalypse or not. During their time at the outpost, their relationship was reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where their love and passion towards each other was vehemently under surveillance. Timothy and Emily are no Romeo and Juliet; fans quickly noticed Ryan Murphy’s abundance of biblical imagery and subtle nods towards the pair as incarnations of Adam and Eve. Therefore, fans have theorized that the couple is none other than the infamous Garden of Eden residents, Adam and Eve themselves.
Why Timothy And Emily Could Be Adam And Eve
The fan theory that the couple are Adam and Eve is nearly airtight. It proposes that their genetic superiority is enough to constitute them as an incarnation of the biblical couple. Furthermore, fans have pointed to their death by poisoned apple as mirroring Eve’s original sin in eating the forbidden fruit, which she also gives to Adam. In this scene in particular, the two share a single apple, which directly mirrors the fateful moment that negativity entered the garden. This is perhaps the most blatant reference that Murphy made in American Horror Story: Apocalypse, but fans have dug even deeper.
In the biblical book of Genesis, Eve gave birth to the first murderer. The first two sons of Adam and Eve were Cain and Abel. As the story goes, Cain, the firstborn, murdered Abel due to Yahweh’s favoritism towards the second born son. By the end of season 8, the apocalypse never happened, but Timothy and Emily meet again and end up together. The finale shows that Emily gave birth to a son named Devan, who turns out to be the next coming of the Antichrist. This would mean that Devan mirrors Eve’s first-born, but Cain was not the Antichrist. This is where the fan theory that Timothy and Emily are Adam and Eve falls apart.
While it is still entirely possible for the couple to be Adam and Eve, they are an alternate reality version of the two, and are capable of birthing the bringer of the end of times. Until further notice, they are not definitively Adam and Eve. As American Horror Story has been renewed for at least three more seasons, fans hope that this plot will not be pushed aside like countless others. American Horror Story: Apocalypse introduced a promising thematic device with Timothy and Emily that could warrant more attention in the future.
