The Haunting Of Bly Manor , the long-awaited follow-up to Netflix’s smash horror series The Haunting of Hill House , finally has a release date, according to People . The next entry in Mike Flanagan’s anthology series will drop on the streaming service on October 9.
For a few months in the fall of 2018, The Haunting of Hill House was the biggest hit on Netflix. The show was very loosely based on the 1959 novel by Shirley Jackson. About all the show had in common with the source material was that it took place in a haunted mansion called “Hill House.” The show also contained several very subtle references to the source material, such as in the names of the characters, and in minor plot points. Other than that, everything was original.
The Haunting of Bly Manor promises a similar approach to its source material: in this case, Henry James’ 1898 horror novella The Turn of The Screw . Like the novella, the plot will involve a governess assigned to care for two children at a mysterious country manor. The new show will take place in 1980s England rather than the Victorian era of the original.
“After an au pair’s tragic death, Henry Wingrave hires a young American nanny to care for his orphaned niece and nephew who reside at Bly Manor with the estate’s chef Owen, groundskeeper Jamie and housekeeper, Mrs. Grose. 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 the show’s description.
However, the show doesn’t promise to be a recitation of the source material’s plot. Rather, as Flanagan said previously, the season is intended to “thematically link” multiple Henry James stories into one meta-story.
Two cast members from Season 1 are returning. Victoria Pedretti — who played the youngest daughter, Nell Crane, in the original — returns as Dani, the new nanny. Oliver Jackson-Cohen — who portrayed Nell’s drug-addicted twin brother Luke — returns as Peter Quint, whose role in the narrative is still being kept under wraps.
Though two members of the original cast are returning, albeit, in different roles, there won’t be a connection between Bly Manor and Hill House . However, showrunner Mike Flanagan did promise that there will be “little Easter eggs” and other subtle nods to the previous season.
In addition to finally revealing the long-awaited release date, fans got another taste of what’s to come on Monday, as a teaser trailer dropped.
