‘The Haunting Of Bly Manor’ Will Adapt More Than Just ‘The Turn Of The Screw’
The Haunting of Bly Manor, the second season ofThe Haunting of Hill House, is taking its main inspiration from Henry James’The Turn of the Screw. But according to creatorMike Flanagan,Screwwill be just one of several Henry James ghost storiesBly Manorwill draw from. In fact, Flanagan says thatTurn of the Screwis “one of a dozen stories” that the new season will tell.
There have been more than a few adaptations ofThe Turn of the Screw. Most notable is the 1961 chillerThe Innocents. In 2020, we’re going to get not one but two different takes. One isThe Turning, a movie starring Mackenzie Davis. The other isThe Haunting of Bly Manor, the second season ofThe Haunting of Hill House. But whileThe Turningwill be usingTurn of the Screwas its only source material,Bly Manoris branching out a bit.
Mike Flanagan previously confirmed thatBly Manorwould be"looking at all the ghost stories of Henry James as the jumping-off point for the season," and now he’s elaborated on that a bit more. “The thing I have access to, that no other adaptation ofThe Turn of to the Screwhas, is the rest of Henry James' ghost stories. I get to use all of them,” Flanagan toldGames Radar. “The Turn of the Screwhas been adapted so many times. We know how perfectly it fits into a feature film format. We’re doing a whole season of television.The Turn of the Screwis only one of a dozen stories that we’re telling. All Henry James; all thematically linked.”
Flanagan continued:
“I think of Turning of the Screw as the backbone of this season – the through line that carries us from beginning to end. But we get to go off intoThe Jolly CornerandThe Romance of Certain Old Clothes, and so many other of these wonderful ghost stories that people haven’t seen adapted before. It’s all wrapped up in what seems to be familiar, but that familiarity goes away really early in the first episode. It says, ‘We’re off on a whole other road.'”
The Turn of the Screwdeals with a governess hired to watch over two orphaned children in a sprawling estate that may or may not be haunted.The Jolly Cornerfollows a man visiting the house he grew up in and finds it to be haunted by his own alter ego. AndThe Romance of Certain Old Clothesfollows the tale of two sisters who both fall in love with the same man, which leads to ghostly complications.
InThe Haunting of Bly Manor,Hill Housebreakout Victoria Pedretti plays a governess named Dani, who is tasked with caring for two “very unusual children.” There’s no premiere date forBly Manoryet, but it’s expected to arrive sometime in 2020.
