The Haunting of Bly Manor will do more than simply adapt Turn of the Screw

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Mike Flanagan will be following up Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House with The Haunting of Bly Manor, which will be based on Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" and feature a new story with all-new characters. There have been plenty of adaptations of the Henry James novella over the years, including 1961's THE INNOCENTS, but Flanagan told Entertainment Weekly that The Haunting of Bly Manor will merely be using the original story as a backbone for the season and will also draw upon James' other supernatural tales.

It’s going great. We’re about a third of the way through. It’s such a treat to play in the world of Henry James. It’s a whole different vibe from Shirley Jackson. Turn of the Screw is kind of the backbone of the season. But that’s been adapted so many times, and so well, like in the case of the The Innocents and others. There’s a new adaptation coming out in like a few weeks. You can skip rocks off of The Turn of the Screw. So, we were able to open up his entire library of ghost stories, stuff that’s never been adapted, and build the whole season out with the entirety of Henry James’ supernatural library. And that has been a real treat, because we really get to do things that I’ve never gotten to see before. Turn of the Screw is really just our way in.

Mike Flanagan also said that The Haunting of Bly Manor will be scarier than The Haunting of Hill House, saying that "it's a lot more frightening, just on a visceral level." Although the new series will feature many of the same cast members as The Haunting of Hill House, including Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Henry Thomas, and Kate Siegel, Flanagan added that The Haunting of Bly Manor will have no direct dramatic link to its predecessor. "There’s not a narrative connection, but there are little Easter eggs, for sure, not only in small details but in moments of dialogue and in some of the ideas from Hill House," Flanagan said. "There are definitely going to be things that will set off that little dopamine rush that those kind of connections create. But it’s not a direct connection from a story point of view."

The Haunting of Bly Manor is expected to debut on Netflix in 2020.