Mike Flanagan explains the major difference between his previous series “The Haunting of Hill House’ and the upcoming show “The Haunting of Bly Manor”…
The highly anticipated follow up to “The Haunting of Hill House” will debut on Netflix on Oct. 9 as creator Mike Flanagan weaves a new terrifying tale with “The Haunting of Bly Manor.”
While many of the same actors from the previous series will also appear in “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” this is a completely separate show with an entirely new cast of characters with the stories based on the works of author Henry James. The primary source used for this installment is his famous book “The Turn of the Screw” but Flanagan decided to use multiple ghost stories from James when adapting his work into a nine-episode series for Netflix.
“‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’ is the second installment in ‘The Haunting’ anthology,” Flanagan explained in a behind-the-scenes video posted on Monday. “We started with Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, and this follow-up season is a standalone adaptation based on the ghost stories of Henry James. Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw is one of the most influential ghost stories ever written.
“What struck me as a really wonderful opportunity for this season was Henry James wrote other ghost stories as well, most of which have never been adaptation. The opportunity to go further into Henry James’ library, to look at some of his other ghost stories, to try to find a way to bring them all together, it was a challenge that we really couldn’t say no to.”
In “The Haunting of Hill House,” Flanagan followed the Crain family through years worth of torment after their family first moved into the home with much of the series taking place over two separate timelines. The primary focus of that series was ultimately about family but Flanagan promises the story at the heart of “The Haunting of Bly Manor” is much, much different this time around.
“What sets Bly Manor apart is that at its heart it’s a love story,” Flanagan revealed. “It’s a Gothic romance story. When you look at the word ‘romance’ it conjures up images in your mind.
“Gothic romance means something very, very different, steeped in mystery and doom, incredibly passionate emotions that swung into the darkness of human nature.”
The powerful emotions displayed by the love story will definitely get tied up with the ghost story, which Flanagan believes will make “The Haunting of Bly Manor” a horror show will plenty of scares but also a lot of heart as well.
“If there’s one thing that I hope fans take away from this season of Bly Manor, I think it’s that wonderful connection between a great love story and a great ghost story,” Flanagan teased. “The two are really the same thing, how each of us when we fall in love is kind of giving birth to a new ghost, something that’s gonna follow us for the rest of our lives.
“I hope that that intermingling of a ghost story and a love story is really impactful for people, and I think by the end of this season the line between the two is pretty much obliterated entirely.”
“The Haunting of Bly Manor” will debut with all nine episodes on Netflix on Oct. 9.
