Yet another star from The Haunting of Hill House is returning for the show’s second season, as director Mike Flanagan confirmed on Twitter that Henry Thomas will be coming back for the upcoming chapter entitled The Haunting of Bly Manor. The actor garnered a great deal of acclaim for his nuanced performance as the younger version of patriarch Hugh Crain last time around, but it’s currently unknown what role he’ll have in this next batch of episodes.
What we do know is that Thomas will be joining a cast that closely resembles the original. Many stars from the first season are already slated to rejoin the series, with Kate Siegal (Theo), Victoria Pendretti (Nell) and Oliver Cohen-Jackson (Luke) all having been tapped for new roles. Carla Gugino, meanwhile, who played the younger version of Olivia Crain, has also expressed her desire to return.
Flanagan’s critically acclaimed horror show is apparently mirroring the design of its popular predecessor American Horror Story. Both miniseries present viewers with an entirely new spooky plot each season. Although the characters are also new, creator Ryan Murphy enjoys bringing back talented performers to tackle new roles, and it looks like Flanagan’s intent on doing the same thing by recruiting many of the stars from The Haunting of Hill House for his highly-anticipated next chapter.
The debut season, for those who haven’t seen it, was a modern retelling of Shirley Jackson’s renowned novel of the same title. The overall show had little in common with the book though other than the moniker and a few shared character names.
The Haunting of Bly Manor, meanwhile, will be loosely adapted from Henry James’ eerie novella The Turning of the Screw, which revolves around a governess looking after two children who soon begin to worry that their isolated abode is haunted by evil spirits. Pendretti has been selected to play the aforementioned governess, while all of the other parts are still being kept under wraps.
The Haunting of Bly Manor is expected to begin filming this month and will premiere on Netflix some time in 2020. Stay tuned for more.