Mike Flanagan quickly became a trustworthy name for horror fans everywhere after his enthralling and empathetic adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" on Netflix. This spawned a reliable partnership between Flanagan and the streaming giant, producing subsequent thrilling tales like "The Haunting of Bly Manor," "Midnight Mass," and most recently, "The Midnight Club." If you've already devoured these for a festive holiday scare, you're probably wondering what's next for the frightening visionary.

Flanagan will be adapting another iconic writer in the gory genre by taking on Edgar Allen Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher." This will assume the form of another series adaptation for Netflix and Flanagan, with eight episodes of suspense unraveling the spine-tingling story of Roderick and Madeline Usher. Flanagan recruits a stunning variety of cast members, including a notable "Star Wars" icon, a "The Haunting of Hill House" standout, and even one of Ghostface's elusive final girls.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" will undoubtedly be another gritty and haunting addition to Flanagan's impressive roster of terror. While Poe's short story may not feature any ghostly entities, the mini-series will still possess several scares until the chilling twist at the very end. Mike Flanagan and Netflix's next highly anticipated collaboration is well underway, and here's what can expect to see before the devastating fall of the Usher family estate.

Mike Flanagan's next project will be spotlighting Edgar Allen Poe's original hair-raising short story. Much like his other reimaginings, this modern adaptation will surely feature an abundance of his famous subversion, surprising even longtime Poe fans. With that in mind, we can still take a stab at what to anticipate with the foundation provided by the early father of horror.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" begins with a narrator visiting his friend Roderick Usher after being sent a letter about Roderick's grave illness. Notably, when he arrives at the towering Usher house, he notices a thin crack dividing the house and connecting to the adjacent lake. This heavy foreshadowing is signature Edgar Allen Poe at his finest and bares inevitable consequences for the story's tragic conclusion.

Living with Roderick is his troubled and sick sister Madeline, who succumbs to odd deathlike trances of disassociation. Roderick paints to cope with his depressing situation and desperately warns the unnamed narrator that the house is noisily alive. Soon after, his sister Madeline seemingly dies and is entombed in the family's plot. Roderick is uneasy and paranoid, so the narrator reads him a knightly story while the house creaks along. In a bizarre twist, Madeline is responsible for the noise, and when she's released, collapses, scaring Roderick to death, and killing both twins. The House of Usher then falls and slides into the lake as the narrator runs out.  

"The Fall of the House of Usher" will feature an incredible array of stars, from horror veterans and final girls to Jedi masters. Mike Flanagan himself took to Twitter to announce his castings, including Kate Siegel, Zach Gilford, Willa Fitzgerald, and Mark Hamill, to name a few. Joining them in the hellish House of Usher are Carla Gugino, Mary McDonnell, Bruce Greenwood, and Henry Thomas.

Flanagan has a proclivity for frequently collaborating with the same actors in his anthological and standalone projects. This is also the case for "The Fall of the House of Usher," with Siegel, Gilford, and Thomas reuniting with the esteemed writer/director for another creepy season of television. Originally, Frank Langella was set to be featured as the lead Roderick Usher before misconduct claims that resulted in his termination (via Variety).

Also returning to the scarier side of TV is final girl and "Scream" Queen Willa Fitzgerald, who broke out with the MTV slasher series. Many roles are still unidentified at this time, including Fitzgerald and Hamill; however, we can speculate the latter may be the central narrator. What we do know for sure, according to IMDB, is that Greenwood (who recast Langella, via Deadline) and McDonnell will be bringing the Ushers to life as Roderick and Madeline.

While Mike Flanagan's iteration of "The Fall of the House of the Usher" has yet to receive an official release date from Netflix, the creator offered some insights with Collider at New York Comic-Con 2022. On his Twitter, he shared the news that production had wrapped on all four of his next projects, including "The Fall of the House of Usher." Of those, the Poe adaptation is the last to be released, tiering it up for Flanagan's predicted season or Netflix's traditional time frame.

"It's eight episodes and I don't know when it will be done." His fellow "House of Usher" producer Trevor Macy quipped we could see a release in March as Flanagan continued. "So it will be next year, but they haven't made a decision. It could either be spring or they could hold it back for spooky season." 

Netflix previously released Flanagan's other works in late September to mid-October for a perfect Halloween-time viewing. Therefore, it's probably likely they'll hold it for "spooky season," as Flanagan fondly calls it. Then again, the unconventional streamer is often unpredictable with its scheduling, so we may have to wait and see. 

Mike Flanagan typically takes the reins on his projects as a creative auteur expressing his vision through both scripting and directing. As IMDB lists, he'll follow this trend with "The Fall of the House of Usher" by serving as the series' creator, writing several episodes, and directing half alongside Michael Fimognari. Flanagan's counterpart is also a previous collaborator of his, who was the lead cinematographer on the esteemed "The Haunting of Hill House." Fimognari even dipped his toes into other corners of the horror genre with Flanagan on "Doctor Sleep," the acclaimed follow-up to Stanley Kubrick's masterful "The Shining."

Fimognari will direct episodes three, four, seven, and eight of "The Fall of the House of Usher," leaving one, two, five, and six for creator Mike Flanagan. This gives Fimognari the hefty weight of revealing the terrifying twist with Madeline Usher and tearing down the towering house in the finale. After his petrifying pacing and delicate framing with "Doctor Sleep" and "Hill House," fans can rest assured in knowing the Usher house will crumble in a spectacular and haunting fashion.  

Mike Flanagan's unflinching commitment to capturing the raw reality of horror leaves room for really only one television rating. In fact, Netflix already has "The Fall of the House of Usher" rated TV-MA for "language, violence, sex, nudity, gore, and suicide." This also reflects Netflix's commitment to trigger warnings, so viewers aren't blindsided by a program's content. 

Flanagan and his crew portray blood and gore in a sophisticated way that elevates the terror and keeps his work grounded in a horrifying reality. This is the primal element that intensely captivates viewers and makes them crave more of his work, like his visceral first film, 2013's "Oculus" with "Doctor Who" and "Avengers" star Karen Gillan. Notoriously, in a moment featured heavily in the trailers, Gillan's character mistakenly takes an unforgiving bite out of a lightbulb, mistaking it for an apple. This early horrific imagery instantly drew horror fans to Flanagan's distinctively graphic and refreshing work.

Mike Flanagan has clarified with The Wrap that "The Fall of the House of Usher" is not another entry in his "Haunting of" anthological franchise (encompassing "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Haunting of Bly Manor"). His solid reasoning references a fantastical difference that perfectly explains the differentiation. "I can tell you the biggest reason. So for it to be a 'Haunting,' it says that it's about ghosts, right? And Poe wasn't really about ghosts. And 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' specifically, is not about ghosts. So the biggest thing is that there just isn't really a haunting."

Though it's not directly related to his other work, it would still be a worthwhile watch to enjoy his other blood-curdling narratives. You can enjoy an exciting abundance of his material on Netflix, including his exclusive "Haunting of" series along with "Midnight Mass" and "The Midnight Club" (unrelated despite their shared haunting hours). If you're brave enough, while you're on Netflix, you can dive further into his work with the truly unforgettable Stephen King adaptation "Gerald's Game," the insanely suspenseful slasher thriller "Hush," nightmare crafting "Before I Wake," and nail-biting prequel "Ouija: Origin of Evil." 

Elsewhere, you can experience the extraordinary "Doctor Sleep" on HBO Max and his aforementioned debut "Oculus" on Hulu while we wait for "The Fall of the House of Usher."