At long last, today brings us an official trailer for Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher, a brand-new limited series from director Mike Flanagan. If you caught Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and/or The Midnight Club, then you already know Usher is well worth being excited about. Flanagan (and his crew of regulars) simply do not miss.
First, let’s take a look at The Fall of the House of Usher‘s plot synopsis:
“In this wicked 8-episode limited series based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, ruthless siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege and power. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth.”
Got all that? Good. Now let’s take a look at that trailer…
Early word on this one suggests that Flanagan and company have truly swung for the fences here, and that the results are something very special, indeed. There’s certainly something to that trailer, which feels simultaneously of a piece with Flanagan’s previous Netflix efforts but also very much its own wild, possibly unhinged thing.
And how about that cast? The Fall of the House of Usher includes performances from (deep breath) Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell, Carl Lumbly, Mark Hamill, Michael Trucco, T’Nia Miller, Paola Nuñez, Henry Thomas, Kyleigh Curran, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Willa Fitzgerald, Katie Parker, Malcolm Goodwin, Crystal Balint, Aya Furukawa, Daniel Jun, Matt Biedel, Ruth Codd, Annabeth Gish, Igby Rigney and – last, but certainly not least – the great Robert Longstreet. Good lord, what a lineup!
Flanagan (who directed four episodes of Usher; Michael Fimognari helmed the other four) is, as always, keeping very busy: in addition to The Fall of the House of Usher, he’s also got a feature adaptation of Stephen King’s novella “The Life of Chuck” en route, and will also be spearheading an adaptation of King’s The Dark Tower series. We remain concerned about the amount of sleep he must be getting.
The Fall of the House of Usher hits Netflix on October 12th. Mark you calendars and clear your schedules, gang. We’re excited for this one!
