Mike Flanagan says The Haunting of Bly Manor will be scarier than Hill House

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

The Haunting of Hill House was, well, a haunting experience. Filled the brim with slow-burning suspense and more hidden ghosts than you knew what to do with, the first season of the Netflix anthology series certainly set a high bar which will be tough to follow. Mike Flanagan is hard at work on the second season, now titled The Haunting of Bly Manor, which will be based on "The Turn of the Screw" by Henry James and feature a new story with all-new characters.

While speaking with Birth.Movies.Death, Flanagan revealed that The Haunting of Bly Manor is shaping up to be a scarier experience than The Haunting of Hill House. "For Henry James fans, it’s going to be pretty wild, and for people who aren’t familiar with his work, it’s going to be unbelievably scary," Flanagan said. "I already think it’s much scarier than season one, so I’m very excited about it." Flanagan also said that in addition to "The Turn of the Screw," The Haunting of Bly Manor will be drawing upon other Henry James stories as well.

We’re looking at all the ghost stories of Henry James as the jumping-off point for the season, so it very much is a whole new deal. It’s a cool way to expand on some of the things I loved about season one, but within the framework of a new story, without having to be restrained by the decisions we made last time.

Although The Haunting of Bly Manor will be telling a new story, there will still be a few familiar faces taking part as both Victoria Pedretti and Oliver Jackson-Cohen (who played Nell and Luke Crain in the first season) will be back as new characters, and Flanagan says that there will be "other familiar actors from season one" as well. Mike Flanagan also said that The Haunting of Bly Manor will follow in Hill House's footsteps with its "old-school approach to the ghosts."So remember to keep your eyes peeled! "That’s part of the DNA of The Haunting for me—that old-school approach to the ghosts," Flanagan said. "In particular, we’re having an enormous amount of fun talking about how to take some of the ideas from season one about hidden ghosts and things like that, and find new gears for them this time. It’ll be the same type of story, and we’ll treat the ghosts very much the same way." The Haunting of Bly Manor will premiere on Netflix in 2020.