Katie Bienvenue
The new Mike Flanagan trailer for The Fall of the House of Usher has finally dropped, which means it is officially Spooky Season. The Fall of the House of Usher is Flanagan’s final series with Netflix before he moves over to his new home at Amazon Prime. As you can guess from the title, Flanagan’s final foray will be covering the works of the spooky master himself, Edgar Allan Poe.
Much like The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Fall of the House of Usher will draw from not only the titular tale but many of Poe’s other works. From the trailer, we see glimpses of scenes that look to be inspired by The Murders at the Rue Morgue, The Raven, The Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death and so many more that we would be here for a while if I were to list them all. This might be the biggest collection of an author’s work that Flanagan has taken on. Mike Flanagan has even given a literal list of the titles he plans to have featured in the final product, which I highly recommend rereading before the series release.
Personally, it’s great to see him come full circle. Flanagan’s first foray with Netflix came with 2017’s Gerald’s Game, a film adaption of the Stephen King novel by the same name. In it, we are given our first four “Flanaganverse Regulars” with Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas, and Bruce Greenwood. Collectively they’ve gone on to appear in every Flanagan project done for Netflix at least once, in addition to some of his films outside of the streaming service. Seeing them return for Usher really makes this send-off feel complete.
Along the way he’s brought on many other faces that have become Flanagan staples including Rahul Kohli (The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass), Samantha Sloyan (Hush, The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass), Katie Parker (Absentia, The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Bly Manor), and Igby Rigney (Midnight Mass and Midnight Club), all of whom will also be returning for Usher.
To add to our favorite regulars, we are being given new members with the additions of Mark Hamill, Mary McDonnell, and Carl Lumbly. I’m excited to see all their takes on Flanagan’s genius and for them to become regulars in his other projects! His ability to create a family unit within his cast and crew is something I admire about his work.
An aspect that pulled my attention within the trailer is Flanagan’s twist on the family dynamic. If one is to look at his films and previous television series, one will find the common theme of family, whether it is how grief can pull them apart (The Haunting of Hill House and Oculus), how love can bring healing (The Haunting of Bly Manor), or how we can pick what we consider to be our family (The Midnight Club).
Flanagan has always explored the ups and downs of the family unit, and here it looks like he is going to set The Fall of the House of Usher before the events of Poe’s tale, allowing us to see the inevitable downfall of the Usher Crime Family. Given how society has been eating up stories of the rich and powerful falling off their pedestals, it can be safe to assume that the average viewer will eat this tale of retribution up as well.
A personal highlight is seeing the return of Flanagan regular Carla Gugino, who appears to be a shape-shifting demon. Just within the trailer and promotional posters, she has already appeared as the raven, the black cat, and the masked figure from The Masque of the Red Death. Whatever she is, she is out for Usher blood and the trailer has already offered up plenty of it. Sorry, Usher family, but from where I stand, if I wasn’t supposed to be rooting for your downfall, perhaps Flanagan should’ve cast someone else as your annihilator.
The trailer is not for the faint of heart. There is plenty of blood and gore happening in the nearly three-minute preview, so one can only speculate how much of it will be within the full eight episodes. Dare I even say that this might be the scariest Flanagan project yet? Don’t worry though, because it also looks like there will be some humor to calm us down between the frights! No matter what, I’m excited to watch Flanagan’s final Netflix series when The Fall of the House of Usher finally arrives on October 12th.
