Hill House & Bly Manor Creator Reveals Why New Netflix Series Isn't Part of the "Haunting" Franchise

Mike Flanagan is one of the busiest names in horror. The director's latest Netflix series, Midnight Mass, hit the streaming service at the end of September one year after The Haunting of Bly Manor was released. However, the series that helped boost Flanagan's career the most was The Haunting of Hill House back in 2018. Not only was Midnight Mass not a part of the Haunting anthology series, but his upcoming Netflix venture, The Fall of the House of Usher, will also stand on its own. During a recent chat with The Wrap, Flanagan talked about why the upcoming series, which is based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe, won't be a Haunting show. 

"I can tell you the biggest reason," Flanagan shared. "So for it be a 'Haunting,' it says that it's about ghosts, right? And Poe wasn't really about ghosts. And 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' specifically, is not about ghosts. So the biggest thing is that there just isn't really a haunting." He added, "Outside of that, the more boring answers are that we were developing this as a standalone anyway, that it was really always kind of outside of that universe ... But I understand why people are definitely kind of clamoring for that word to be part of it."

Flanagan is currently busy working on Midnight Club, which means The Fall of the House of Usher does not yet have a premiere date or a cast. The director added, "You'll see it is not at all of the DNA of the 'Haunting' series ... It's very much its own thing tonally, thematically. It's something we've actually never done before ... And so it felt like we would be limiting it, in an unfortunate way, if we tried to shove it into that 'Haunting' shoebox. It very much is it's own crazy, over-the-top, insane, beautiful, macabre, just wicked thing that is so different."

Flanagan continued, "I think when people see it, it'll become clear, very fast that it's like, 'Oh, this is NOT the 'Haunting.' 'The Haunting' is like this sad, sweeping violin ballad and this is like rock and roll. This thing is adrenaline. So I think people will be able to see the difference pretty fast. But I very much appreciate the question, and I love that people still have an appetite for 'The Haunting.' That makes me happy."

Flanagan adds "never say never" when it comes to more Haunting shows, but nothing is currently in the works. 

"For all I know, there'll be another chance to kind of go back into that world," he explained. "I just don't see it right now. And there are too many things kind of stacked in line waiting to go. But if the right thing comes along and the stars aligned for it, we're always going to be wide open to going back there. I also want to make sure it's the right thing, though. I don't want to go back just to go back and not have something new to say. I want to make sure that it's for the right reasons. The thing I'd hate to do is go back and give everybody a third season of 'The Haunting' and have them hate it."

Midnight Club is currently expected to be released sometime in 2022. The Fall of the House of Usher does not yet have a release date.