‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’: Henry Thomas Returning to Netflix Anthology Series

The Haunting of Hill House alum Henry Thomas, who played a younger Hugh Crain, the patriarch of the Crain family in Season 1, has been confirmed to be joining the cast of Season 2, The Haunting of Bly Manor. Series creator and director Mike Flanagan confirmed the casting on social media on Wednesday, promising more announcements to come this week. The news comes amid surmounting speculation that Kate Siegel will also return.

Thomas joins returning actors Victoria Pedretti and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, who portrayed older versions of Eleanor “Nellie” Crain and Luke Crain.

Thomas’ role in the upcoming season is unclear, though it has been confirmed that Pedretti is set to portray Dani, “a governess who takes care of two very unusual children,” while Jackson-Cohen will take on the role of Peter, “a charming young man who lives at Bly.”

The second season of the critically acclaimed series, which is set to mark its transition into an anthology series, will be based upon Henry James’ classic novella The Turn of the Screw. First appearing in serial format in Collier’s Weekly magazine (Jan. 27 – April 16, 1898), the novella tells the story of a governess who is hired by a bachelor to watch over his niece and nephew at an old country mansion in England called Bly, which she comes to suspect is haunted.

The season, according to Flanagan, who spoke to Birth.Movies.Death. in August, is set to be “scarier” than the freshmen run, which left viewers experiencing anxiety and plenty of sleepless nights.

“We’re looking at all the ghost stories of Henry James as the jumping-off point for the season, so it very much is a whole new deal,” he told the outlet. “It’s a cool way to expand on some of the things I loved about season one, but within the framework of a new story, without having to be restrained by the decisions we made last time. For Henry James fans, it’s going to be pretty wild, and for people who aren’t familiar with his work, it’s going to be unbelievably scary. I already think it’s much scarier than season one, so I’m very excited about it.”

Bly Manor marks the first in Flanagan and fellow executive producer Trevor Macy multi-year deal with Netflix, which includes The Haunting anthology.

The Haunting of Bly Manor is expected to premiere on Netflix in 2020. The Haunting of Hill House, based on Shirley Jackson’s 1959 horror novel of the same name, is currently available for streaming.