List of Fringe Characters - Recurring Characters - "Michael" / Anomaly XB-6783746

"Michael" / Anomaly XB-6783746

"Michael" is a child Observer, first introduced in the first season episode "Inner Child" where he was played by Spencer List, and later re-introduced in the fifth season, where he was subsequently played by Roman Longworth, due to List's aging since the original role. The name "Michael" is given to him by adoptive parents who protect him in the 2036 future, as shown in the episode "Black Blotter", while later Captain Windmark cites him as Anomaly XB-6783746 in the episode of the same name.

Michael, like other Observers, is pale and bald; however, he does not possess the implant used by other Observers to further boost their intelligence while suppressing their emotions (and allowing them to time-shift). He is mute, but is able to communicate via writing, symbolic gestures, or by touching others and implanting thoughts into them. He has an empathic connection with others, particularly Olivia, and in "Inner Child," is able to help her stop a serial murderer. At the end of that episode, he is taken into adoptive care; as he is driven off, he sees September watch the vehicle drive away.

In the fifth and final season, Michael is revealed to be part of the plan by Walter and September to stop the Observers. Sometime after the Purge by the Observers, Walter hides Michael in a pocket dimension with the help of September (now stripped of his powers and known as Donald) ("Through the Looking Glass and What Walter Found There"). After Walter and the rest of Fringe Amber themselves, Donald returns to the pocket universe to extract Michael, then sheltering him with former Resistance fighters who escape detection by isolating themselves on a remote island. In 2036, Fringe is able to track Michael down, after discovering that he's missing from the pocket universe.

Michael is revealed to be September's progeny, created from September's genetic material sometime in the early 27th century. September purposely stopped the growth process, leaving Michael a child possessing both a powerful Observer-intellects and human emotion, creating an anomaly in danger of being destroyed by the Observers. September takes Michael to the past to hide him from the Observers. Much of September's machinations with Fringe in the first four seasons were to prepare Walter to use Michael for their plan to defeat the unemotional Observers ("The Boy Must Live"). In 2036, September, who has been made human by the Observers and has given himself the name of Donald O'Connor (after the actor in the movie "Singin' In The Rain") reveals his plan to take Michael to 2167, the year that human genetic experiments replacing all emotion with pure logic, will be performed. These experiments will ultimately lead to the creation of the Observers. Donald's plan is to convince the scientists of 2167 not to proceed with these experiments, by showing them that it is possible for humans to contain both logic and emotion and be peaceful, like Michael.