Next Week's 'AHS: Apocalypse' Promo Finally Explains Who The Cooperative Is

After spending the bulk of this season in flashbacks, American Horror Story: Apocalypse is finally about to take us back to the post-apocalyptic present after next week's new episode. But first, the show is going to explain one last piece of mystery surrounding Outpost 3 that we are still in the dark about: the Cooperative. The AHS: Apocalypse Episode 9 promo teases that we will finally find out what is really going on with the mysterious group that seems to run the world after the apocalypse.

The Cooperative was first mentioned in the very first episode of AHS: Apocalypse, but although the group is described as the most powerful people in the world, we never learned much else about them. When everyone arrives at Outpost 3 after the nuclear apocalypse, Wilhemina Venable explains that the Cooperative is made up of the dozen greatest minds that mankind has to offer. The Cooperative knew that the apocalypse was going to happen, and so they created all of the outposts for survivors to hide out in.

We also quickly learn that Michael Langdon is a member of this Cooperative when he pays Outpost 3 a visit, but he is the only face of the organization that we have seen. So who else is in this powerful group? Thankfully, the teaser trailer for next week's new episode, entitled "Fire and Reign," shows that we are finally going to get the low-down on the Cooperative. Check out the trailer below:

Although most of the trailer teases yet another standoff between Michael Langdon and the witches, partway through the new clip, we see a group of people in black cloaks and reflective masks convene for a meeting. It seems pretty clear that this is the Cooperative. The group is looking at information on messengers, likely planning how to structure their post-apocalyptic, outpost-filled new world.

Spoiler alert: The rest of this post will go into details about AHS: Apocalypse Episode 8, "Sojourn." Although the members of the Cooperative remain a mystery, some fans think that we may have actually met a couple of them in this week's new episode. After Michael found out that Cordelia and her coven incinerated his beloved foster mother Miriam Mead, he seeks help from a Satanic cult, which leads him to a pair of robotics experts named Jeff and Mutt (Evan Peters and Billy Eichner) who sold their souls to Satan to achieve success... along with an endless supply of cocaine.

We find out that Jeff and Mutt are the ones who created the Ms. Mead robot, but with the storyline about the Cooperative coming up next week, some viewers are also thinking that they might be two members of the mysterious group. After all, Ms. Venable is the one who knew all about the Cooperative, and now we know that she worked as Jeff and Mutt's assistant prior to the nuclear missiles. Venable also descriped the Cooperative as "titans of industry who managed to blow the whole world to hell," which sounds a lot like Jeff and Mutt.

The second-to-last episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse, "Fire and Reign," will air on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 10 p.m. ET on FX.