What is ‘Midnight Mass’ About? Everything We Know About Mike Flanagan’s ‘Haunting’ Follow Up

Netflix is about to get a whole lot scarier. The first trailer for Midnight Mass dropped today, teasing a spooky story full of mystery, “miracles,” and death. The series is the creation of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor mastermind Mike Flanagan. The writer/director cut his teeth in horror, amassing a loyal audience (and tight-knit group of returning actors).

Midnight Mass will be Flanagan’s first wholly original series for Netflix. It follows a disgraced man played by Zach Gilford as he returns to his small, isolated home town of Crockett Island. There a bewitching new priest played by Hamish Linklater has the community in his thrall. Gilford’s character is skeptical of this new priest and his “miracles,” and based on the eerie tone of the first trailer, he probably should be.

But what exactly is Midnight Mass about? Is it secretly a third Haunting installment? And which Haunting of Hill House actors are back for more ghoulish fun?

Here’s everything we know so far about Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Mass, coming soon to Netflix…

What Is Netflix’s Midnight Mass About?

According to Netflix’s official press release, Midnight Mass “tells the tale of a small, isolated island community whose existing divisions are amplified by the return of a disgraced young man (Zach Gilford) and the arrival of a charismatic priest (Hamish Linklater). When Father Paul’s appearance on Crockett Island coincides with unexplained and seemingly miraculous events, a renewed religious fervor takes hold of the community – but do these miracles come at a price?”

Flanagan added in an accompanying letter that Midnight Mass is “his favorite” project to date, stressing how its themes are personal to him: “As a former altar boy, about to celebrate 3 years of   sobriety, it’s not hard to see what makes this so personal. The ideas at the root of this show scare me to my core.”

“There is darkness air work on Crockett Island. Some of it is supernatural, but the scariest is born of human nature. The darkness that animates this story isn’t hard to see in our own world, unfortunately.”

“But this show is about something else as well.. faith itself. One of the great mysteries of human nature. How even in the darkness, in the worst of it, in the absence of light — and hope — we sing,” Flanagan wrote.

What does he mean by “sing”? I guess we’ll have to wait to see Midnight Mass to find out.

Who’s in the Cast of Midnight Mass?

Midnight Mass stars Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, and Hamish Linklater, and also features Rahul Abburi, Crystal Balint, Matt Biedel, Alex Essoe, Annarah Cymone, Annabeth Gish, Rahul Kohli, Kristin Lehman, Robert Longstreet, Igby Rigney, Samantha Sloyan, Henry Thomas, and Michael Trucco.

Siegel, Kohli, and Thomas are, of course, alums of Flanagan’s Haunting series. But is that the only connection Midnight Mass has to those hit Netflix shows?

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How is Midnight Mass Connected to The Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor?

Sorry to blow up your fan theories, but as of right now, Midnight Mass doesn’t appear to have anything in common with The Haunting series besides sharing key creative team members like Flanagan, Siegel, Thomas, and Kohli. That is, Midnight Mass is a wholly original story from Mike Flanagan and not his reinterpretation of a classic horror novel. Which means…drumroll please…Midnight Mass is not another Haunting installment.

At least, as far as we know, it’s not.

What is the Midnight Mass Release Date

Midnight Mass will premiere exclusively on Netflix on Friday, September 24. (So you’ll have plenty of time to binge it before Halloween season is in full swing.)

Watch Midnight Mass on Netflix