“At its foundation, the Haunting series is very much about haunted spaces and haunted people. The way we make those things dance together is really going to be what’s uniform about Hill House and Bly,” Flanagan told Vanity Fair (opens in new tab), before hinting at a change of direction for the Netflix series that will feature the same cast returning to portray different characters in a new setting.

“[It] was really important for all of us not to play the same notes we played for the first season. The first season is very much entrenched in family dynamics and death and grief and loss and child trauma. We all collectively felt like we’d said everything we wanted to say about that.”

The Haunting of Hill House was based on the novel of the same name, while Bly Manor is going to be loosely adapted from Henry James’ seminal 19th Century horror story, Turn of the Screw. That means the tone will be starkly different, with Flanagan hinting at a brighter, sunnier disposition for Bly Manor than the more foreboding, Gothic-centric take on Hill House.

One fan-favourite element from Hill House, however, is making its way into the hallowed halls of Bly Manor: the ghosts hiding in the background of some scenes.

“The hidden ghosts in the first season turned out to be one of my favorite things to play with on set. The audience seemed to really like them. I loved watching people double back and try to find more of them. It encourages repeat viewing,” Flanagan said.

This year, these ghosts will “tell their own story” and will be explained – so you won’t have to dive into Reddit posts and Twitter fan theory threads to tease out secret information you otherwise might have missed: “By the end of the season, you’re going to know who they are and why they’re there,” Flanagan teased.

So, ghosts aside, don’t expect to retread the grounds of Hill House’s first season. The Haunting of Bly Manor is shaping up to be its own beast – one with four walls, a roof, and a whole lot of scares in store. Season 2 has a release window of “this Fall”.

The post The Haunting of Hill House creator reveals how season 1 and season 2, Bly Manor, are related appeared first on Game News.

Oliver Jackson-Cohen joins Hill House castmate Victoria Pedretti in The Haunting of Bly Manor (opens in new tab). They will play different character in the second season, an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw. The book, a ghost story by Henry James, centres on a governess who moves to the titular Bly Manor to take care of her niece and nephew – Miles and Flora – after their parents died. Things get strange when the governess believes she can see the ghosts of the previous governor and governess floating around the house.

Netflix revealed that Jackson-Cohen will play Peter, “a resident of Bly Manor, who makes life very difficult for everyone who lives there.” The actor previously played Luke Crain, the older twin of Pedretti’s character Nell, on Hill House.

In other news regarding Jackson-Cohen, the actor was recently cast as The Invisible Man in Universal and Blumhouse’s new adaptation of The Invisible Man. The movie was initially going to star Johnny Depp as the eponymous character, but was later dropped from the film after Universal scrapped its “Dark Universe” plans.

The Haunting of Bly Manor is expected to reach Netflix next year. The series creator, Mike Flanagan, who also adapted Stephen King’s novel Gerald’s Game for the streaming service, recently announced a new, seven-episode Netflix series. 

Titled Midnight Mass, the story will revolve around an “isolated island community” who experience “miraculous events and frightening omens” after a mysterious young priest joins them. Flanagan has also directed Doctor Sleep (opens in new tab), the forthcoming sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic The Shining. 

For now, why not check out the biggest questions we had after watching the Haunting of Hill House ending (opens in new tab)?

The post Haunting of Hill House actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen joins the cast of The Haunting of Bly Manor appeared first on Game News.