Expanding on American Horror Story’s vast connected universe, one popular theory suggests that Apocalypse’s Emily is the daughter of Roanoke‘s Lee Harris. Although Roanoke was largely considered American Horror Story’s weakest season before AHS season 10’s hated Death Valley, the season 6 story actually features several connections to prior installments. Apocalypse, on the other hand, is the most interconnected season of all, as previous characters from both Murder House and Coven make triumphant returns. When considering the theory that Emily is Lee Harris’ long-missing daughter, Roanoke would be far more integrated into American Horror Story’s universe than before.

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AHS season 6, Roanoke, followed two connected stories: one in which the plot of a family moving into a haunted house in Roanoke, North Carolina is portrayed by actors for TV, and one where the real figures and their respective actors return to the house. Among the real characters was Lee Harris (Adina Porter), a former police officer who moves into the supernaturally-affected home of her brother Matt. In American Horror Story‘s season 8 Antichrist story, Apocalypse, one core character is Emily (Ash Santos), a young woman with exceptional DNA who is placed in Outpost 3 during the erased timeline.

On the surface, there’s very little that could link these two characters, but digging into both of their histories makes the possibility of a family connection all the more possible. Lee Harris’ major American Horror Story background detail reveals that her daughter, Emily, went missing on the 4th of July when she was four years old. In Apocalypse, not much is known about Emily’s backstory, with most of her characterization coming from the fact that she often engages in protests at her college campus. Emily wasn’t even given a last name in Apocalypse, with her surname only becoming Campbell after she married Timothy in American Horror Story’s changed timeline. Considering that the series is known for connecting even minor characters to past seasons, it would be odd for Apocalypse to use the name Emily and give her such an ambiguous background only two seasons after Roanoke.

Many supported the Lee Harris and Emily theory by connecting the fact that Apocalypse’s Emily is said to have superior DNA. The witch in American Horror Story: Roanoke, out of all characters, is mysteriously drawn to siblings Lee and Matt, which may hint at the two sharing the same exceptional genes as Emily Campbell. At the same time, AHS season 6 made several hints at Emily having died, such as Cricket communicating with her as a spirit and supposedly finding a death certificate. On the other hand, Leslie Jordan’s American Horror Story character could have been lying, and often times death certificates are made for people who have been missing long enough that they’re presumed dead.

The major aspect of this theory that doesn’t quite add up is Emily and Lee’s age difference. Lee reveals in AHS season 8 that she had Emily when she was 17 years old and her daughter disappeared when she was four, which would have made Lee about 21. Apocalypse’s timeline begins in 2020 and at this time Emily is said to be in college, which would supposedly put her somewhere between 18-22 years old. This would make her birth year around 1998-2002, which would coincidentally make Lee born in the mid-’80s. If so, Lee would have only been about 35 by the time she dies at the end of Roanoke in 2017, which doesn’t quite match up considering her actress, Adina Porter, was a decade older. At the same time, American Horror Story’s timelines are fairly messy, particularly in the cases of Roanoke and Apocalypse, so this doesn’t completely debunk the Emily-Lee theory.

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Jordan Williams
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Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies.

Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

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