NetflixOne of the surprise TV hits of the year has been The Haunting of Hill House, a ghostly Netflix drama focussing on the spooky goings on of the Crain family.
The show is a loose re-imagining of Shirley Jackson’s 1959 novel of the same name. It follows five siblings across two timelines, as the paranormal experiences they encountered at Hill House continue to haunt them in the present day.
Although the show hasn’t officially been given the green light for a second series, fans are calling out for one, and it seems its cast and creators are already thinking about how they’d approach the next chapter.
While the team behind the show are inevitably keeping their cards close to their chest about what could happen in a second series, there’ve been a few hints at what we can expect.
Carla Gugino, who plays the mother of the family, Olivia Crain, told The Hollywood Reporter, The Haunting of Hill House could potentially return as an anthology series akin to American Horror Story:
Mike Flanagan [the show’s creator] said he would be interested in the notion of an anthology, where some actors come back to play different characters.
I think he feels like he has told the complete story of the Crain family. But if I was invited and I was able to, I would really love to, just because I do love to collaborate with him.
So, could we be seeing the actors from the first season return as new characters, or new versions of themselves in a second series?
It certainly seems possible, especially as Flanagan has said a number of times he feels the ending of series one wrapped up the Crain family’s story once and for all.
Speaking to TVLine, he said:
I think we tied up all of those threads exactly how they should be. I don’t really see a need to revisit those characters, even in cameos.
I want to remember them the way we left them, and leave them to their lives.
That’s not to say, then, a second series of The Haunting of Hill House isn’t in the works – after all, Flanagan has also said he’s toyed with the idea, telling The Hollywood Reporter:
I’ve definitely thought about a second season. There are variables at play, so I can’t say much. But I’ve given it thought.
NetflixWhile Oliver Jackson-Cohen, who plays Luke Crain, told Digital Spy:
There’s millions of different options, they could continue on and have it a couple of years on and how the remaining Crains are dealing with it.
They could go back and tell the story of the Hills at Hill House, they could do an anthology.
There’s so many options that they can toy with here which I think makes it so exciting to be part of a show like this.
So it seems a second series, possibly even an anthology, is looking highly likely!
The Haunting of Hill House is streaming now on Netflix.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.