Netflix’s master of horror is teaming back up with a few of his regulars — and Luke Skywalker, too. Mike Flanagan, executive producer-writer-director on Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass, is getting ready to shoot his latest horror show for Netflix: The Fall of the House of Usher, based on the work by Edgar Allan Poe. And today Flanagan announced the first members of his cast: Frank Langella, Carla Gugino, Mary McDonnell, Carl Lumbly, and Mark Hamill.
“This miniseries is a modern remix of some of the most iconic works of Edgar Allan Poe,” Flanagan said on Twitter. “To tell this epic tale of greed, horror, and tragedy, we have assembled the largest ensemble cast in the history of Intrepid Pictures [the company Flanagan runs with his partner, Trevor Macy].”
Langella, a Tony-winning legend who infamously played Skeletor in the Masters of the Universe movie, is Roderick Usher, “the towering patriarch of the Usher dynasty.” Gugino, a Flanagan regular also known for her work in Watchmen, is playing a role Flanagan describes as “front and centre,” so possibly the unnamed narrator. Mary McDonnell, of Independence Day and Battlestar Galactica fame, will play Roderick’s twin sister Madeline Usher. Carl Lumbly, recently seen on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, is C. Auguste Dupin, one of Poe’s famous investigator characters, and Hamill, best known for some series called… Star Wars?… is playing “a character surprisingly at home in the shadows.”
Plus, this is just the first wave of the “largest ensemble cast” in Flanagan’s history, with more names coming soon. The director tweeted “We have MANY more names to share, and will unveil the next wave tomorrow, right here at 10am PST. Some familiar faces, some new ones, all incredible performers coming together to bring the world of Poe to life as it’s never been seen before. Cannot wait to tell you more!” As for more ways Usher would be different from Flanagan’s other popular Netflix shows (including the upcoming Midnight Club), he recently said the following: “It is an explosion… it’s rock and roll, over the top and just violent and insane and horrific.” And with this cast? We can’t wait.
There’s no release date yet for The Fall of the House of Usher but fall or winter 2022 seems like a decent bet.