Everything We Know About Netflix's Haunting of Hill House Sequel

Netflix is moving full speed ahead on a second season of The Haunting of Hill House. And why not? The first season was our favorite new show of 2018. However, expect a very different sort of show in Season 2. From the revised title to the new horror novel inspiring the plot, here's everything we know about Netflix's Haunting of Hill House follow-up, titled The Haunting of Bly Manor.

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The Haunting of Bly Manor Release Date

The Haunting of Bly Manor will debut on Netflix on Friday, October 9, with nine brand new episodes for you to binge.

The Haunting of Bly Manor Trailer

So far, Netflix has only released one teaser trailer for The Haunting of Bly Manor, which gives us a sneak peek at some of the horrifying new nightmares in store when the season premieres. You can watch the trailer in the video below: [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/08/31/netflixs-the-haunting-of-bly-manor-teaser-trailer"]

The Title Change

The new season won't be called The Haunting of Hill House. Netflix has revealed the show will actually be an anthology series going forward, with each season having a different variation of the title "The Haunting..." and focusing on a different group of characters. This approach looks to be similar to FX's handling of American Horror Story. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/12/21/why-the-haunting-of-hill-house-is-igns-2018-tv-show-of-the-year"] Season 2 will be called The Haunting of Bly Manor. Expect a completely different cast of characters and a brand new storyline this time around. While it's always possible there will be subtle story connections between the two seasons, the story of the Crain family appears to be finished.

The Haunting of Bly Manor Cast & Crew

Both creator/director Mike Flanagan and executive producer Trevor Macy will return to spearhead The Haunting of Bly Manor. The duo recently signed an overall deal with Netflix. Their presence should ensure the new season remains tonally similar to the first, even if the cast and setting change. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2018/10/15/what-the-haunting-of-hill-house-didnt-reveal-about-the-mansions-spooky-history"] Even though The Haunting of Bly Manor isn't a follow-up to The Haunting of Hill House, several key actors will returrn for Bly Manor. However, they'll be playing new roles, similar to how American Horror Story reuses key actors in new parts each season. Oliver Jackson-Cohen, who played Luke Crain, will be playing Peter, "a resident of Bly Manor who makes life very difficult for everyone who lives there." Victoria Pedretti, who played Nell Crain, will also be returning as a new character, the governess Dani. Other returning Hill House actors include Henry Thomas (who played the young Hugh Crain) and Kate Siegel (who played Theo Crain). New members of the cast for The Haunting of Bly Manor include Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Rahul Kohli, Amelia Eve, T’Nia Miller, and Tahirah Sharif.

The Haunting of Bly Manor Source Material

Whereas The Haunting of Hill House was based on author Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel of the same name, The Haunting of Bly Manor will instead draw from a completely different horror novel. The new season will adapt Henry James' 1898 novel The Turn of the Screw. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=hidden-ghosts-in-the-haunting-of-hill-house&captions=true"] The Turn of the Screw is widely regarded as one of the best and most influential horror novels ever written. It's narrated by an unnamed protagonist, who recounts the details of a manuscript written by a governess. This manuscript relays the governess's experiences caring for two children at Bly Manor and her slow realization that the grounds may be haunted. The Turn of the Screw has been adapted to film, stage, and TV numerous times, most famously in the form of 1961's The Innocents. Here's how Netflix describes The Haunting of Bly Manor: "Set in 1980s England. after an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave (Henry Thomas) hires a young American nanny (Victoria Pedretti) to care for his orphaned niece and nephew (Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen (Rahul Kohli), groundskeeper Jamie (Amelia Eve) and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose (T’Nia Miller). But all is not as it seems at the manor, and centuries of dark secrets of love and loss are waiting to be unearthed in this chilling gothic romance. At Bly Manor, dead doesn’t mean gone." According to series creator Mike Flanagan, The Haunting of Bly manor will be "scarier than Season 1" and take inspiration from more than one of James' stories. In an interview with Birth.Movies.Death, Flanagan stated that Turn of the Screw was a "jumping-off point" for Season 2's narrative. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=the-haunting-of-hill-house-season-2-first-look-at-the-haunting-of-bly-manor&captions=true"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.