One of many fan theories surrounding American Horror Story, some have speculated that in season 3, Coven, Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts) was meant to be the true Supreme, not Cordelia (Sarah Paulson).
Ryan Murphy's horror anthology series has been a fall television staple since 2011, totaling nine seasons since its debut. The showrunner encourages this theorizing amongst his fans; some theories have even been confirmed by Murphy, such as each season within the anthology being connected. Some theories are more far-fetched than others, but as there are so many hints and clues throughout, it becomes a way for many to while away time between the end of one season and the beginning of another. American Horror Story has been renewed by FX through season 13, though season 10 has been delayed due to COVID-19, alongside many other fall television shows that weren't able to start or finish filming due to shutdowns, quarantine, and social distancing requirements.
Season 3, Coven, is one of the most beloved within the show. It revolves around witchcraft centered in New Orleans, Louisiana, and adapts local legends and history such as Madame Delphine LaLaurie (Kathy Bates) and voodoo priestess Marie Laveau (Angela Bassett) into its central narrative. The female-led season focuses on a group of young witches who are attending school at Miss Robichaux's Academy under the watchful eye of Cordelia Foxx (née Goode). The young witches are in competition with each other to ascertain who will become the next Supreme, or coven leader as the current Supreme, Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange), is aging and sick. While the end of the season sees none other than Fiona's daughter, Cordelia, take the mantle, one theory suggests that Madison Montgomery was the true successor.
American Horror Story Theory: Is Madison The Real Supreme?
There are a couple key facets around the theory that Madison could have been the real Supreme. The first involves Madison's standoff with Fiona, where she ends up being murdered. In explaining how the Supremacy works, Cordelia told the witches that a Supreme must name her successor. In episode 3, "The Replacements", a flashback reveals that Fiona killed the active Supreme when she was a young woman, Anna-Leigh Leighton. The reason for the Supreme naming her successor is to keep witches from dying during the test of the "Seven Wonders"; the Supreme must be able to perform all seven, but there's nothing that clearly states there couldn't be more than one witch able to do every test. This aspect of the theory is very important because—of all the witches Fiona interacted with—she felt the most power from Madison, thought she was the next in line, and killed her because of it.
Speaking of the Seven Wonders, some viewers thought that Madison couldn't be the Supreme because she failed to perform "Divination" accurately; the theory pokes a hole in this line of thinking. During the flashback in episode 3, Anna-Leigh Leighton is seen taking a cigarette out of a tin in the living room where Fiona murdered her. Madison grabbed a cigarette from the same tin. She might not have been intending to do as Myrtle Snow (Frances Conroy) suggested when she was asked to retrieve an item belonging to Anna-Leigh, but did so unconsciously. This might mean that particular power was just developing, and wasn't fully realized at the time--it's arguably still present.
A final mark to prove that Madison was always meant to be the real Supreme was her death. After Kyle (Evan Peters) kills her because she refuses to bring Zoe (Taissa Farmiga) back to life, Cordelia is immediately revealed as the Supreme. Not only that, but she's a picture of perfect health. If, as the theory suggests, Madison was the real Supreme and Cordelia was actually second in line, her death would seemingly pass the torch and completely restore Cordelia; this is a mark of the Supreme rising to her full potential. While this American Horror Story theory has not been confirmed, there's a lot of interesting evidence to support it.