Mike Flanagan's 'The Fall of the House of Usher' Arrives This Fall

By Kelsey Christine McConnell | Published Aug 17, 2023

mike flanagan's fall of the house of usher — Photo Credit: Intrepid Pictures

With a number of popular horror miniseries under his belt, Mike Flanagan is at it again, this time with The Fall of the House of Usher. This eerie 8-episode series will hit Netflix on October 12th—just in time for Halloween. In the meantime, here's a look at everything we know.

This series is based loosely on the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name. The source material was published in 1839, and follows a man arriving at the rundown ancestral home of his childhood friend, Roderick Usher. Roderick believes that he is going to die soon, but it is is hauntingly beautiful twin sister, Madeline, who passes away shortly after the narrator arrives. The two men place her body in the family vault, but as the days pass, Roderick spirals into a horrifying, sinking suspicion that his sister is still alive.

Just how loose is this adaptation? Nothing is certain yet, but given that Flanagan's past work has maintained only the barest struct of plot and broad themes, we can assume it will be more conceptual than faithful. Considering the character of investigator C. Auguste Dupin is in the series, it's reasonable to believe that Flanagan has pulled material from other Poe works as well, like The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Raven.

This miniseries marks the fifth collaboration between Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy under Intrepid Pictures. Flanagan himself and Michael Fimognari are set to direct the episodes, while Macy, Fimognari, and Emmy Grinwis are executive producers.

The cast of the series features some familiar faces from previous Flagan projects, including Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Annabeth Gish, Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli, and his wife, Kate Siegel. Though Frank Langella was originally in the lead role of Roderick Usher, Greenwood took over after some issues. The incredible Mary McDonnell is in the role of Madeline Usher, while the iconic Mark Hamill is playing Arthur Pym, the Usher family attorney. Carl Lumbly appears as investigator C. August Dupin.

Other stars include Willa Fitzgerald, T'Nia Miller, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Katie Parker, Michael Trucco, Malcolm Goodwin, Crystal Balint, Kyleigh Curran, Paola Nuñez, Aya Furukawa, Matt Biedel, Daniel Jun, Ruth Codd, Robert Longstreet, and Igby Rigney.