With the cancellation of ‘The Midnight Club’ after its first season, it seems that the Netflix era of Mike Flanagan has come to an end. The upcoming limited series ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ appears to be director Flanagan’s last TV project under his pact with the platform, and he and his Intrepid Pictures partner Trevor Macy have just inked an overall TV deal. with Amazon.
It was also learned that the project ‘Something Is Killing the Children’ with Flanagan’s Netflix is already ruled out, so the break with Netflix is total. Normally, the director designed his series as a single stand-alone season, but in this case he had at least one more season in mind to count in ‘The Midnight Club’ and left some things unanswered on purpose. Now the director has shared on Tumblr the answers to the questions he left season 1 and how he and Leah Fong hoped to finish the second season, adding that he is “very disappointed” by the cancellation.
What would happen to Kevin and Ilonka
Kevin (Igby Rigney) and Ilonka finally opened up about their true feelings for each other at the end of season 1 and decided to pursue a relationship together for whatever time they have left. But it turns out that they are more than two young lovers, they are actually soul mates. According to Flanagan, Ilonka is the reincarnation of Brightcliffe’s first owner, Stanley Oscar Freelan, and Kevin is the reincarnation of his wife.
It turns out that the old man and woman that Ilonka and Kevin have been seeing are not evil spirits, but rather manifestations of their past lives trying to infiltrate their present memory. Stanley built Brightcliffe in the hope that the cool coastal air would help it survive a terminal forecast. And although Stanley was able to live much longer than he thought, his wife began to “succumb to dementia.” That’s why Brightcliffe’s secret cellar has landscape paintings, so Stanley’s wife could still see the beauty of the world even when she refused to come out of the cellar.
According to the manager :
“Whenever Ilonka’s time came at the end of the season, the shadow would help her remember this past life, offering her peace as she realizes she has nothing to fear. She and Kevin will shed these personalities and be reborn, and they will have the joy of finding themselves in another way.”
The fate of the other characters
While Anya’s (Ruth Codd) death was definitely one of the saddest arcs of season 1, it seems like season 2 would have been even more emotionally devastating . Not only would Anya return, living out the stories of her friends and reminding us how hard it is to say goodbye to the ones you love, but most of the main cast would also succumb to their illnesses from her throughout the season.
The first would be Amesh ( Sauriyan Sapkota ), whose glioblastoma would progress even faster than what we saw at the end of season 2. Flanagan promised that we might still see Amesh and Natsuki’s ( Aya Furukawa ) love story for a couple. more episodes, but that it would be “clear that Amesh’s death is imminent . ” Natsuki would die soon after. However, as with Sandra’s ( Annarah Cymone ) remission at the end of season 1, Spence ( William Chris Sumpter ) would also see her HIV prognosis change.
Flanagan hoped to explore Spence’s story alongside the advancement of HIV treatments in the late ’90s, planning to send him home from Brightcliffe at the season 2 finale “to manage his disease and live out the rest of his life “. Kevin and Ilonka would be the last of the main cast to die, learning from their past lives as they progress from this one. Cheri (Adia) would be the last remaining member, and the season would end by telling the story of her friends to a new group of patients at Brightcliffe.
The true identity of Dr. Stanton
At the end of season 1, we see Brightcliffe owner and matriarch Dr. Stanton (Heather Langenkamp) remove her wig for the first time, revealing a Paragon hourglass tattoo on her neck . However, despite her connection to the deadly cult, Flanagan assures her that her intentions remain noble.
In his post, he confirms that Dr. Stanton was once Georgina Ballard, aka Athena, aka the daughter of Paragon leader Aceso. As for why she wears a wig, Flanagan said that season 2 would reveal that she, too, has been undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer . Although she would eventually learn that her cancer is in remission, it would have been a very “introspective” arc for the character as she continued to care for the Brightcliffe children.
According to Flanagan :
“Dr. Stanton hated what her mother became and the atrocities of the cult. She got the property back after her mother died and wanted to turn it into a place that celebrated life. She was trying to undo her mother’s legacy and leave behind something beautiful.”
