As the creator of The Haunting of Hill House, one of Netflix’s most acclaimed shows, there’s always going to be a huge level of interest from fans about what Mike Flanagan is working on under his exclusive deal with the streaming service. The first stop was the second installment in the anthology series, and while Bly Manor was an altogether different beast that tackled Gothic romance instead of Hill House‘s more straightforward scares, it still drew rave reviews from critics and audiences alike.
The Gerald’s Game director recently admitted that there are currently no plans for a third run, but that could always change in the future. Instead, the filmmaker moved onto his next Netflix exclusive, with shooting on Midnight Mass wrapping last month after Flanagan and his team somehow managed to film all seven episodes without facing a single setback related to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Unlike Bly Manor, the 42 year-old will direct every installment of the upcoming chiller, which sees a remote and isolated island community terrorized by supernatural events after a mysterious young priest shows up out of the blue. Almost inevitably, because it’s Flanagan helming a Netflix show with horror elements, rumors started up that Midnight Mass would be the third Haunting, but he’s now shut down the speculation, as you can see below.
Here, let me help… no, it isn't. https://t.co/ORJZyV0Tvf
— Mike Flanagan (@flanaganfilm) January 8, 2021
There are obviously going to be similarities given that many of the same crew members are involved, while Flanagan’s wife Kate Siegel, regular collaborator Henry Thomas and Bly Manor‘s Rahul Kohli are all part of the cast, but just because he’s working on a TV show that takes place in his genre of choice, it doesn’t mean that Midnight Mass is obligated to connect to any of his previous work.