Mike Flanagan, in less than a decade, has quickly made his mark on the horror genre on both the big and small screen. Whether it is huge bombastic sequels like Doctor Sleep or the religious-centric Midnight Mass, he is on top of the list of the best modern horror directors. His next terrifying series for Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher, is about to start production this coming Monday and the Oculus director took to Twitter to announce Willa Fitzgerald as the show's newest cast member.
Fitzgerald has appeared on many popular series over her young career so far including Gotham, Bull, House of Cards, PBS’ Little Women, and she can currently be seen opposite Alan Ritchson in the Jack Reacher series for Amazon simply titled Reacher. However, this casting has to make horror fans wonder, was Flanagan a fan of the short-lived Scream: The TV Series? This arguably was Fitzgerald’s most famous role and show to date which saw her play as Emma Duval. The actress was the Sidney type final girl of that incredibly underrated series which revamped the Ghostface lore into something compellingly new and Fitzgerald was fantastic in the series. Her storyline ran for 2 seasons on the show before MTV dropped that plot altogether and took the series in a more traditional Ghostface direction for season 3. The series was ultimately canceled shortly after that.
In the tweet, Flanagan said, “I'm so excited to announce that the fantastic WILLA FIZGERALD is joining our cast! I'm so grateful to welcome her to this amazing ensemble.” The director also used the time to clarify that production on the limited series starts on Monday, January 31st which was previously thought to have already begun. Because of all this, it is exciting that Fitzgerald is getting another chance to play in the horror genre, and she gets to do it with arguably the most talented horror director of our time.
Still not much is known about the series so far, only that it will be inspired by multiple Edgar Allen-Poe works despite the title being ripped specifically from one of the author's short stories. Fitzgerald has joined an already all-star cast which includes Mark Hamill, Mary McDonnell, Carl Lumbly, Frank Langella, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli, Zach Gilford, and many more recognizable faces.
This will be Flanagan’s fifth series for Netflix joining The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and the upcoming The Midnight Club. While horror fans are still trying to get over the traumatizing greatness of Midnight Mass, it will be interesting to see what Flanagan has up his demented sleeves this time and with an insane cast like this, it looks to be another hit for the streaming platform.
As production starts on Monday we are sure to get more clues/casting details about who everyone is playing and for all the latest news on The Fall of the House of Usher, stick with Collider.