The Netflix show The Midnight Club, created by Mike Flanagan, has been cancelled after just one season. Variety confirmed the axe was made following Flanagan and co-producer Trevor Macy’s parting of ways with the streaming site, deciding to go into a new deal with Amazon Studios.
The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass director went for a younger audience this year with The Midnight Club, a thriller series about eight members of a club meeting at midnight to exchange spooky stories. The meetings take place at a hospice for terminally ill teens. The series was adapted from Christopher Pike’s work and released on Netflix Friday, October 7th, comprised of ten episodes.
The Midnight Club starred Iman Benson, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Annarah Cymone, Chris Sumpter, Adia, Aya Furukawa, Sauriyan Sapkota, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan, with Zach Gilford and Heather Langenkamp. Leah Fong, who had previously worked with Flanagan on The Haunting of Bly Manor, wrote the show, with the pilot breaking the record for most jumpscares in a TV show.
During a press meeting for the show’s premiere, Flanagan shared how this was the first of his works he could show his 11-year-old son. “There was a lot of, ‘I remember what it’s like to be young and cool!’ I don’t, but I was convinced I did,” Flanagan said.
Adding: “I talked to my oldest son and to some of the other younger writers in the writers’ room, and I’m like, ‘It’s a cool scene. It’s a cool thing when this happens.’ And they were like, ‘Oh fuck; we’re doomed. We can’t let this old guy drive this into the wall.’ But my oldest son, Rigby, I would check in with him and bounce ideas and see what he thought, and if I thought something was going to be too uncomfortable for him to watch, it felt like we were tipping.”
Flanagan had discussed options if the show was not renewed for a second season at the press meeting: “This was designed to be ongoing. I don’t know if it will. We’ll see how it goes, and we probably won’t know for another month or so what Netflix wants to do.”
He also addressed the show’s loose ends: “We also didn’t answer some of the bigger questions of the season. Those answers exist but were meant to be for the next season.” After the show’s cancellation, audiences won’t be getting those answers from the show. However, Flanagan added if there was no second season: “I’ll put them up on Twitter. Then we’ll at least all be able to talk about it.”
Check out our review of The Midnight Club. The first season is available to stream on Netflix.
