There has been a lot of buzz around Netflix’s horror show The Haunting of Bly Manor, a sequel to its incredibly successful The Haunting of Hill House. And while they’ve been putting forth a lot of details on the cast and the inspiration for it, there hasn’t been much in the way of plot points. We know it will be based on the works of Henry James, including the very popular The Turn of the Screw, but little else. Now the first full trailer has given us a peek into what horrors will soon unfold.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tykS7QfTWMQ
In the trailer, we see an au pair comforting a child at the graves of her parents, followed by a woman walking around the mansion and telling a man that she’s having someone else’s dreams. We also see some overlaid shots which could hint that the kids we see in the trailers will also have grown-up versions we will see in other parts of the show. There’s definitely some time differences in terms of all of the characters’ clothing.
We also see the little girl interacting with the ghosts directly, and (presumably) her brother being stalked around the house and having fights with other kids. One has to wonder if the au pair is a red herring, a character who will be killed off early as a means of moving the plot forward. As before, there’s also a lot of water motifs, so it’s very likely someone is going to drown or has drowned before. Also, the doll house is going to play a very important role in the plot (even showrunner Mike Flanagan says so). Perhaps this season we’ll actually learn more about the ghosts haunting the house.
The show stars Victoria Pedretti, Henry Thomas, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohli, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, Amelie Smith and Amelia Eve, many of whom also starred in The Haunting of Hill House.
The Haunting of Bly Manor premieres on Netflix on October 9, 2020.