The first season of Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House was one of the most effective horror series in memory, and one that rewards multiple viewings. A second season is now in its way, with the focus switching to The Haunting of Bly Manor, an adaptation of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw. Flanagan has already described the new season as even more terrifying than the first, and now series actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen has revealed that the director has “surpassed” himself with the new episodes.
Speaking to Collider, Jackson-Cohen, who played Luke Crain in The Haunting of Hill House, had this to say about why fans should be excited for season 2:
“I have to say, it’s quite strange. It was quite strange at the beginning going back because it’s Victoria Pedretti and I – we both played twins last year – and so we’re back together but we’re in Vancouver, we were in Atlanta last year, and it’s a completely different crew but it’s the same creator. It was very very weird to start off with. It was strange because how do you kind of take a show that was that well received and that loved, how do you do a second version of it? And he’s sort of surpassed it. It’s quite amazing what he’s done with Bly. I go back in about 10 minutes back to Vancouver to go and continue shooting.”
Jackson-Cohen is currently on the promotional circuit for The Invisible Man, and will team up with season 1 cast members Henry Thomas and Kate Siegel for the new adaptation. According to what we’ve heard so far about The Haunting of Bly Manor, the season will both adapt James’ novella and incorporate elements from the author’s other ghost stories. Jackson-Cohen will reportedly play a character named Peter, but details are thin on the ground as to the full plot.
If The Turn of the Screw is the main source material though, then we can expect another haunted house, this time in a remote location wherein a governess looking after two children begins to suspect the presence of ghosts. One of the more notable features of James’ novella are the extent to which the hauntings are real or only in the governesses’ mind, so we’ll likely see more of the psychological horror of Hill House.
At the very least, we’re confident that the new season of The Haunting of Hill House will be stronger than the adaptation of James’ book by recent movie The Turning. We don’t yet know when The Haunting of Bly Manor will arrive on Netflix, but in the meantime, fans of the supernatural can enjoy the streamer’s Locke & Key and Ares, while Flanagan is working on Midnight Mass, another horror series for the platform.
