Following the conclusion of his collaboration with Netflix and the release of 2023’s The Fall of the House of Usher, Mike Flanagan is keeping busy with plenty of projects under his belt, but at least one of those titles is no longer moving forward. The director, who has cemented himself as one of the biggest names in the horror genre with titles like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, recently shared that The Season of Passage, his planned adaptation of Christopher Pike’s 1993 novel of the same name, has been scrapped.
Flanagan shared the news with fans while offering some insight into one of his earlier works: The Haunting of Hill House. Released in 2018 as a modern reimagining of the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name, the series became one of the biggest horror titles of the year, with Flanagan on Sunday sharing a companion list of films that influenced the limited series on Letterboxd. In a discussion with fans in the comments, Flanagan also gave an update on some of his other projects, revealing in one comment, “sorry to tell you that SEASON OF PASSAGE is not moving forward.”
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The news comes nearly three years after Deadline first reported that the creator was set to direct a film adaptation of Pike’s sci-fi horror novel for Universal. At the time, the outlet reported that Flanagan was set to write the screenplay for the movie with his brother, James Flanagan. Flanagan was also attached to the project as director and producer along with Intrepid Pictures producing partner Trevor Macy.
Released in 1993, Pike’s novel centers around Dr. Lauren Wagner, “who was involved in a manned expedition to Mars. The whole world admired and respected her. But Lauren knew fear. Inside―voices entreating her to love them. Outside―the mystery of the missing group that had gone before her. The dead group. But were they simply dead? Or something else?” Flanagan previously said the film adaptation had been “been a dream of mine since I was a teenager.”
While the film has been scrapped, fans can expect to see a lot more of Flanagan. In 2022, it was announced that Flanagan was set to adapt Stephen King’s novella The Life of Chuck. That same year, it was confirmed the director purchased the rights to develop a television series based on King’s The Dark Tower books. In late 2022, Flanagan and Trevor Macy signed an exclusive multiyear overall series deal with Amazon Studios. Flanagan’s past credits include Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Midnight Club, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher, which are all available to stream on Netflix.
