Spoilers ahead for American Horror Story Season 8, Episode 8. Following the death of his beloved Miriam Mead, Michael finds refuge with some other Satanists on AHS: Apocalypse. After waiting in vain for his father (yes, the devil) to tell him what to do next, he stumbles, lost and deflated, upon a church of Satan worshippers. There, he meets Madelyn (Harriet Sansom Harris), who sends Michael to Jeff (Evan Peters) and Mutt (Billy Eichner), two robotics engineers who sold their souls to the devil in order to be successful. They're the ones who end up building the android version of Mead, and based on the preview for the next episode, they also know who the Cooperative is, which means it's likely they'll be the ones who connect Michael with the mysterious organization.
Ms. Venable (who makes her triumphant pre-apocalypse return this episode) spoke of the Cooperative in the very first episode of Apocalypse. She credited the group with creating the outposts for the survivors of the nuclear attack that pretty much destroyed the world, and explained that they're "a collection of the dozen of the greatest minds mankind has to offer. The visionaries." While there was a point where it seemed like the Coven witches or even the warlocks were the Cooperative, now it appears that the Satanists could be these "visionaries" Michael is working with.
However, don't expect the Cooperative to be made up of the run-of-the-mill Satanists Michael hangs out with early in "Sojourn." Jeff says that the secret to the world is that "the politicians, the billionaires, the elite" all work for the devil, and in the preview for Episode 9, he suggests the Cooperative is comprised of society's "movers and shakers." Ryan Murphy certainly isn't afraid of name-dropping, so it's possible, then, that the Cooperative could be made up of real-world people. After all, Jeff and Mutt mention both Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg in "Sojourn," so maybe Silicon Valley higher-ups are a part of the Cooperative. Or, thinking back to last season's Cult, even Donald Trump could be a member.
But while we seem to be narrowing in on who the Cooperative could be, what's still unclear is why they set up the Sanctuary — or any of the outposts — to begin with. If Michael wants to bring about the end of days, why would he create any safe places for humans to live? The outposts must be part of a larger evil plan that Michael and the Cooperative have concocted. Or perhaps they exist so that the devil's top servants can wait out the nuclear fallout until Satan comes to save (er, ruin?) the day.
Whatever the case, it seems as though they'll have a battle ahead of them. Cordelia already revealed that her coven managed to trick the Cooperative by placing Mallory, Coco, and Dinah there without their knowledge. She hid their true identities — seemingly so they'd be safe from Michael's wrath — and now that they're resurrected, they'll be able to help Cordelia fend off Satan's world domination. And with only two episodes left in the season, their final face off should be just around the corner.
