Netflix is opening the doors to a brand-new haunting with a new trailer for The Haunting of Bly Manor — the second installment of Mike Flanagan’s horror anthology series, which began with The Haunting of Hill House back in 2018. Released Tuesday, the more than 2-minute-long clip invites users inside of the new story, set to debut just in time for Halloween.
Set to a piano slowly playing the melody to Mötley Crüe’s 1985 song “Home Sweet Home,” the trailer begins with Owen, the manor’s on-site chef portrayed by Rahul Kohli, warning that “the people here, they’re born here, they die here.” Meanwhile, governess Dani Clayton (Hill House‘s Victoria Pedretti) tells the orphaned Flora (Amelie Bea Smith) and Miles (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) Wingrave that “your parents loved you so, so much. In a way, they’ll always be here.” At Bly Manor, however, not everything is as it seems, the trailer teasing the dark undertones and thrills that viewers can expect.
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Based on Henry James’ gothic horror novella The Turn of the Screw, Bly Manor follows Dani, who takes up the job of governess for the orphaned Wingrave children following the death of their parents. Moving to the remote Bly estate, however, Dani soon learns of the estate’s grim history. While James’ novella was published in 1898, its Netflix adaptation will be set in 1980s England. The second season of the anthology series will also draw inspiration from James’ other works, including The Jolly Corner and The Romance of Certain Old Clothes, with Flannagan having told Vanity Fair that Bly Manor is about broken hearts and tragic love.
“It certainly provides a new way to tell a love story, and there are three of them really that beat at the heart of this season,” Flanagan said. “They all have a very dark edge to them. And by the end, it’s really hard to differentiate tragedy with romance. That sense of romantic longing for someone who meant so much to us — but who’s gone — really is the heart of any ghost story.”
He added that “there are major themes throughout the whole season on the difference between love and ownership, of the nature and importance of consent. And possession, which is all over Henry James’s original material.”
Along with Pedretti, Bly Manor will feature several other Hill House alums. Henry Thomas is set to star as the Wingrave orphans’ emotionally distant uncle Henry Wingrave, with Oliver Jackson-Cohen taking on the role of Henry’s calculating business associate, Peter Quint. Kate Siegel and Katie Parker are also set to star in the season, though their roles have not yet been revealed.
The Haunting of Hill House is currently available for streaming on Netflix. Bly Manor will debut on the platform on Friday, Oct. 9. Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest information.
