Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher has been in development since at least 2021, when the first major roles were cast. Filming began on January 31, 2022, and completed on July 9, but the nearly six-month-long production was delayed when its lead actor was accused of sexual misconduct on set.
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As the series showrunner, Flanagan announced in a Twitter post on Saturday that the show had wrapped production, “closing a huge chapter of [his] life.” He went on to reminisce about the past 3 years he had spent in Vancouver filming several highly successful series for Netflix, including The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, and now his latest, The Fall of the House of Usher. He wrote, “It’s been a privilege to work with some wonderful collaborators, actors, directors, storytellers, crew, family and friends for so long, over THIRTY-FOUR EPISODES of television – the most difficult and rewarding work of my life.”
In April of this year it was revealed that House of Usher’s lead actor Frank Langella was fired from the show for “making inappropriate comments to a female co-star on set,” according to Deadline’s report at the time. Because of Langella’s sexual misconduct the role had to be recast, with Bruce Greenwood taking over as Roderick Usher. As the show was halfway through filming, a large number of scenes had to be re-filmed with the new lead actor, leading to significant delays. However, as of this week, the miniseries is finally completed.
The show is based on an 1839 short story by the man who invented modern literary horror, Edgar Allen Poe. Flanagan continues his trend of adapting classic horror tales as he did with The Haunting of Hill House, which was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Shirley Jackson, and The Haunting of Bly Manor, based on 1898’s The Turning of the Screw by Henry James.
Poe’s short story centers around themes of madness, murder, mystery, and creepy (possibly haunted) Gothic mansions, all topics that have proven successful for Flanagan in the past. Based on the show’s cast list, however, the Netflix miniseries will likely be an amalgamation of several Poe stories. Carl Lumbly is confirmed to be playing C. Auguste Dupin, the quick-witted master detective from “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and the progenitor of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. The miniseries will most likely employ Dupin as a way to stretch the show out with a long-running mystery of discovering what secrets are hidden in the dark corners of the Usher mansion.
The Fall of the House of Usher does not yet have a release date.
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Source: Mike Flanagan/Twitter
