Mike Flanagan has reinvigorated the horror genre on television with shows like The Haunting of Hill House, and Midnight Mass. Now Fans have been gearing up for Flanagan's next Netflix limited series, The Fall of the House of Usher. The series entered production in January, and it is slated to premiere on the streaming service sometime in the near future. However, the show has just taken a major setback. Reported exclusively by Deadline, Frank Langella has been fired from the Netflix series. The Oscar-nominated actor was the subject of a now-completed investigation that determined that Langella was involved in unacceptable conduct on set.
Sources confirmed to Deadline that TMZ’s earlier report was true, and the investigation was set off by sexual harassment accusations. This included the actor making inappropriate comments to a female co-star on set during work. Langella held the lead role of Roderick Usher, which will be recast. While the series is nearly halfway through production, it's been reported that all scenes involving the actor will be re-shot once a replacement has been found. Langella had already been removed from the schedule prior to this week and production will continue on scenes that do not involve Roderick Usher.
While this is likely to delay the series as Langella held a crucial role, it's refreshing to see a set handle such behavior swiftly and appropriately. Flanagan is a master of his craft and has a lot of experience as a director and creator, undoubtedly he'll be able to lead this production to an impressive endgame despite this difficult setback. Prioritizing the safety of the cast and crew bodes well for the production, and the show we'll see eventually will surely be better for it.
Besides his popular Netflix offerings like The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass, Flanagan has been one of the most under-appreciated creators of modern horror content. His films like Oculus, Doctor Sleep, and Gerald’s Game are genre masterpieces. In the last decade, he has quickly become a fan favorite name in the horror community and anything he creates at this point is must-watch material.
The Fall of the House of Usher will be an eight-episode limited series centered around the famous Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name with themes of family, madness, identity, and isolation — it will also take bits and pieces from other Poe stories. This horror tale was also famously adapted into the 1960s Roger Corman film House of Usher starring the iconic Vincent Price.
Flanagan is directing four out of the eight episodes while Michael Fimognari is directing the remaining four episodes. The series stars Carla Gugino, Mary McDonnell, Kate Siegal, Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli, Carl Lumbly, Willa Fitzgerald, and Mark Hamill. The Fall of the House of Usher has no timetable for its release yet, but Flanagan has another Netflix series The Midnight Club coming out later in 2022 to hold us over until then. Expect news on the Usher recasting in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can watch many of Flanagan’s previous titles right now on Netflix.