Horror series The Haunting of Hill House was a massive hit for Netflix when it dropped in October 2018, winning almost universal acclaim from both fans and critics alike, even those that weren’t particularly enamored with the genre itself. Creator Mike Flanagan had already established a reputation as one of scare cinema’s finest talents, and only reinforced this notion in eight episodes full of nail-biting tension, jump-scares, some stunning filmmaking techniques and unbelievable performances from the ensemble cast.
The story being told in Hill House may have reached a definitive conclusion, but Netflix were keen to capitalize on the show’s success, and it was soon announced that it would be retrofitted as an anthology series, with Flanagan gathering together many of the same actors in entirely new roles for The Haunting of Bly Manor, a period piece that will adapt Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw.
Given recent events, many people were wondering if Bly Manor would still be arriving on Netflix by the end of this year, considering the massive number of movies and TV shows that have seen their production schedules and release dates drastically altered by the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Luckily, in a recent interview, Flanagan confirmed that shooting was already completed by the time the entire industry was forced into shutdown, and the finishing touches to post-production have been getting applied remotely by the crew over the last several months.
“I don’t expect it to be delayed one bit. We didn’t really miss a step, believe it or not. We had already wrapped before the whole COVID shutdown hit all the productions. We had a couple of weeks where we had to kind of figure out how to continue post remotely. But my post team also, you know, where I’ve been with now, my whole career, they cracked it real fast and we’ve been doing everything on these virtual sessions.”
That’s definitely good news for those that have been finding the wait for Bly Manor unbearable, and while the sophomore season has never committed to a definitive release date, the plan has always been to unleash it in 2020. Although Flanagan wouldn’t confirm exactly when the newest batch of episodes will drop, he did admit that we’ll be seeing it by the end of the year.
“I think Netflix, they haven’t announced when it’s coming out. They’ve got their own plan. But we’ve been jamming through post. It’s been going great. It’s definitely later this year. It’s not going to get kicked off into 2021, or anything. Everything’s on schedule. I’m really excited for you guys to see it.”
Mike Flanagan is without a doubt one of horror’s finest talents, and while his most recent movie may have bombed at the box office, Doctor Sleep has already found a second life as a cult favorite, and The Haunting of Bly Manor is almost guaranteed to become another smash hit that will continue Netflix’s 2020 hot streak of original content.