‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ from ‘The Haunting of…’ Creator Gets First Look Photos, Premiering October
Netflix has released some “first look” photos for a new limited horror series, ‘The Fall of the House of Usher‘, from ‘The Haunting of Hill House’/’The Haunting of Bly Manor’ creator Mike Flanagan, based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, which premieres this October on the streaming service.
From Mike Flanagan, the creator of ‘The Haunting of Hill House’ and ‘Midnight Mass’, a wicked horror series based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Ruthless siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege and power. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth.
Production on the series has not been straightforward… It stars Bruce Greenwood (‘Star Trek’, ‘Thirteen Days’, ‘The Resident’) in the lead role, who replaced Frank Langella after the actor was fired due to misconduct allegations. Unfortunately, they were halfway through production at the time, meaning quite a lot needed to be reshot.
Greenwood is joined by an impressive cast featuring a number of people from Flanagan’s previous work, along with some new faces. They include Carla Gugino, Mary McDonnell, Carl Lumbly, Mark Hamill, Michael Trucco, T’Nia Miller, Paola Nuñez, Henry Thomas, Kyleigh Curran, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Willa Fitzgerald, Katie Parker, Malcolm Goodwin, Crystal Balint, Aya Furukawa, Daniel Jun, Matt Biedel, Ruth Codd, Annabeth Gish, Igby Rigney and Robert Longstreet.
“It’s batshit crazy in the best possible way. It has quite a lot of very dark humour, but also really touches the soul,” said Carla Gugino (‘The Haunting of Hill House/Bly Manor’, ‘Watchmen’, ‘Gerald’s Game’) who plays Verna, a demonic shape-shifter in the drama. “There is a fantastical supernatural element to the story, and she is the manifestation of that. You could say she’s the executor of fate or the executor of karma.”
This will possibly be Mike Flanagan’s final show for Netflix (at least for a while) as the horror maestro signed an exclusive multiyear overall series deal with Netflix streaming rivals Amazon Studios at the end of last year. That deal means Flanagan, alongside his partner Trevor Macy, will develop and produce projects, via their Intrepid Pictures company, exclusively for Prime Video.
The eight-episode series is directed by Flanagan and Michael Fimognari (‘The Midnight Club’). Trevor Macy and Flanagan exec produce the drama for Intrepid Pictures, alongside Emmy Grinwis and Fimognari.
‘The Fall of the House of Usher‘ premieres Thursday, 12th October 2023 on Netflix UK and worldwide.
