Mike Flanagan wants to scare you. For the past five years, Flanagan has crafted some of the creepiest films and shows just in time for Halloween. These include The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass. Like clockwork, Flanagan is back with his next horror series, Netflix’s The Midnight Club.
Based on Christopher Pike’s 1994 novel of the same name, The Midnight Club depicts eight terminally ill kids at Brightcliffe Hospice. Every night, the kids convene at midnight to share scary tales. The kids agree that whoever dies first must send a message from beyond the grave. After one member dies, supernatural events start to plague the hospice.
The Midnight Club, created by Flanagan and Leah Fong, features a final teaser dedicated to the mysterious doctor and head of Brightcliffe Hospice. Played by Heather Langenkamp, the doctor creepily explains how the safe confines of the hospice create a friendly environment as the kids prepare for the end of their lives. With shadowy demons and enigmatic creatures terrorizing the kids, Langenkamp’s statements couldn’t be further from the truth.
Iman Benson, Adia, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Cymone, William Chris Sumpter, and Sauriyan Sapkota star as the patients who make up the Midnight Club. Flanagan’s frequent collaborators — Rahul Kohli, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan, and Zach Gilford — will have supporting roles in the series.
A unique aspect of The Midnight Club is the ability to tell multiple stories. As Flanagan describes in a behind-the-scenes featurette, there are “A” stories, which cover the events of the hospice, and “B” stories, which depict the self-contained tales that the kids tell each other. The kids will play different versions of themselves throughout the series. The ability to tell multiple stories throughout excites Flanagan as he finally gets to bring Pike’s work to life in the series.
“Christopher Pike wrote The Midnight Club. I have been a fan since I was a kid. It’s been a dream project of mine as a way to see so many of the stories that we loved growing up come to life on the screen,” said Flanagan. “Fans of Christopher Pike will be able to look forward to a celebration of his work. This isn’t just one story. This is a dive into his library.”
