With the major success of Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, it was no surprise that the streaming service would greenlight a second season. The only question was when. After waiting two years, the next installment is finally here! Well, to be factual, it’s two days away. The Haunting of Bly Manor hits Netflix this Friday!
Also, it’s very important to make aware that The Haunting of Bly Manor is not a direct follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House. The series is rather an anthology in the Haunting series. While this is a completely different and new story, the series sees the return of some familiar faces that Haunting fans might recognize. Victoria Pedretti who played the adult version of Eleanor Crain, or “Elle” is returning as the series’ lead. She first gave us a tease of her new character when she announced her return to the Haunting universe on Twitter last year. At the time, she said that she was playing the character of Dani, a governess who is watching over two children. Through the show’s officially released synopsis, we have learned that she was hired by a character played by an actor very familiar to fans.
Henry Thomas who played the father, Hugh Crain, in The Haunting of Hill House, returns to the Haunting franchise as a new character! Thomas’ new character is Thomas Wingrave who “hires a young American nanny to take care of his orphaned niece and nephew.” It’s unclear how involved his character will be involved in this brand new story, but fans are surely anticipating his return.
Yet another cast member returning from the premiere series is Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Jackson-Cohen played Nelle’s twin brother in The Haunting of Hill House and is playing the role of Peter Quint in The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Personally, I love the fact that we get to see familiar faces. In a way, it helps the audience transition from the last series and at the same time know that this is a different story since the actors are playing drastically different roles.
The Haunting of Bly Manor also sees the return of showrunner, Mike Flanagan. Flanagan helmed The Haunting of Hill House so he definitely deserves most of the praise for bringing it to life. On the upcoming anthology series, Flanagan said: “Similar to The Haunting of Hill House, I really wanted to play more with ghosts as an expression of emotional wounds that we do carry around — how the past and present can echo each other, that moments don’t fall like dominoes, they fall like confetti. Though Haunting of Hill House is about a very tight family, Bly Manor is about strangers, a family that is created. All of the people that inhabit Bly Manor come from completely different backgrounds, and get to know each other through friendship, tension, conflict, and love. What sets Bly Manor apart is that at its heart, it’s a love story. It’s a gothic romance story.”
All nine episodes of The Haunting of Bly Manor begin streaming on October 9th exclusively on Netflix!
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