Horror director Mike Flanagan recently wrapped up production on a new venture: Midnight Mass. An ensemble series, Midnight Mass is the latest in a long line of collaborations between Flanagan and the streaming service Netflix. After the success of 2018’s The Haunting of Hill House, Flanagan returned to Netflix with 2020’s The Haunting of Bly Manor. Netflix is also the sole distributor for three of Flanagan’s feature-length films: Hush, Before I Wake, and Gerald’s Game. Needless to say, fans are beyond excited for Midnight Mass, and there is plenty of speculation about what the seven-episode show will entail. It turns out Flanagan has left some easter eggs for audiences along the way.
While plot details are scant, Netflix’s description for Midnight Mass reads as follows: “A community experiences miraculous events and frightening omens after a mysterious priest’s arrival.” The unnamed community is characterized as an insular island. Anyone who knows Flanagan’s works is aware of the fact this isn’t the first time the title Midnight Mass has made an appearance. Midnight Mass is the name of the book Kate Seigel’s character Maddie writes in Hush – an effective, understated home invasion thriller. The Midnight Mass book also materializes in Gerald’s Game. In Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, a copy of Midnight Mass sits on a bookshelf in the isolated Alabama lake house where Carla Gugino’s character Jessie and her husband Gerald’s sexual antics take a macabre turn. Jessie eventually throws the book at a dog in the movie.
These connections have led some hardcore genre sleuths to believe Midnight Mass may exist in the same universe as Hush and Gerald’s Game. Neither confirmed or denied by Flanagan, the potential for overlapping stories is a thrilling prospect. Even if Midnight Mass maintains its own unique world, Flanagan’s choice to link the series’s title to Hush and Gerald‘s Game provides some major clues about the new show’s tone and themes. Flanagan’s films and series often center around the worlds of unknown spirits and supernatural entities that co-exist alongside humanity. With its obvious religious undercurrents, Midnight Mass will no doubt explore how the lives of normal people are affected by contact with paranormal and uncanny forces.
As with any cinematic work, much of Midnight Mass‘s success will rest with its cast. Fortunately, Flanagan’s reputation for drawing emotional, compelling performances out of his actors is already well-established. Flanagan’s wife and long-term collaborator Kate Siegel, who most recently portrayed The Lady of the Lake in Bly Manor, is set to play the lead alongside Zach Gilford and Hamish Linklater. Gilford is an accomplished actor known for everything from the Friday Night Lights TV show to The Purge: Anarchy film produced by Blumhouse. Linklater, also accomplished, is best-known for playing Clark Debussy in Legion. Other Midnight Mass cast members, many of whom have worked with Flanagan before, include Annabeth Gish, Henry Thomas, Michael Trucco, and Rahul Kohli. The role each actor plays in the series is yet to be announced.
Flanagan made a name for himself in horror with his low-budget 2013 film Oculus, but he has been behind the camera since his college days in the early oughts. Over the past two decades, Flanagan has developed a distinctive style that sets lends itself more to slow-burning, psychological terror than it does to jump scares and gore. Relying on atmospherics, character growth, and familial drama, Flanagan’s works unearth the dread and fear that exists just below the surface of everyday life. Whether it’s ghosts, monsters, or other mysterious phantasms, the otherworldly elements in Flanagan’s films and shows usually stand as metaphors for trauma and pain. Even though mainstream audiences remain mixed about Flanagan’s intimate and heavy approach to plot development, Flanagan is considered one of the most talented horror directors working in Hollywood today.
In addition to writing and creating Midnight Mass, Flanagan directed all seven episodes. Flanagan also worked with his cinematographer of choice: Michael Fimognari. Flanagan’s decision to remain sole director may be connected to filming the series with strict safety measures in place due to Covid-19. Flanagan began prepping for the series in December 2019 with plans to begin filming in March 2020. When filming was postponed because of the pandemic, Flanagan moved filming to August in order to implement every necessary CDC-recommended protocol and guideline. Midnight Mass‘s production lasted an impressive 83 days with absolutely no hiccups, exposures, or outbreaks.
After filming ended, Flanagan expressed his gratitude for everyone involved in making Midnight Mass on Twitter: “It has been an extraordinary, unprecedented production, and I cannot be prouder of this amazing cast and crew. In fact – and I do not say this lightly – this has been the best production experience of my career.” Flanagan went on to explain his “dream project” for “many, many years” proved to be the “most ambitious” one he ever tackled. He gave some insight into the scope of Midnight Mass by describing interior shots that include more than 100 people in them. Netflix has not announced a firm release date for Midnight Mass, but the series is likely to appear in 2021.
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