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The latest chapter of Mike Flanagan’s horror series on Netflix sadly won’t be going beyond its first season. Netflix canceled The Midnight Club (co-created with Leah Fong) after season 1, so that tantalizing cliffhanger concerning a certain doctor won’t be resolved — well, you might have thought so, but thankfully Flanagan has fulfilled his promise to fans by detailing in a blog post exactly what would have happened in season 2.
Let’s dive into what would have come and everything else to know about the show in the spoiler-packed section below.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.What would have happened in season 2?
Sadly, Netflix won’t be renewing the young adult horror series for a second season, despite pretty favorable reviews (including CNET’s own). The Midnight Club managed only a three-week run in Netflix’s top 10 viewed shows chart, never claiming the No. 1 spot. What also seems likely to have factored into the decision is co-creator Mike Flanagan’s production company Intrepid Pictures choosing to go with Amazon Studios as their next TV home, signing a multiyear deal with Prime Video, with their contract with Netflix coming to a close.
Fortunately, Flanagan said at a Netflix press event (via Elite Daily) that he was prepared for cancellation and would drop answers to any lingering questions on Twitter. “We didn’t answer some of the bigger questions of the season — those answers exist, but were meant to be for the next season,” Flanagan said. If there’s no second season, he’ll “put [the answers] up on Twitter.”
With so many story threads to tie up, Flanagan instead took to Tumblr to post a detailed rundown of what would have happened to the members of The Midnight Club in season 2. “My biggest disappointment is that we left so many story threads open, holding them back for the hypothetical second season, which is always a gamble. So I’m writing this blog as our official second season,” Flanagan wrote.
Let’s run through the key plot points that would have been fleshed out in season 2:
Amesh — dies in early in the season from his glioblastoma.
The Janitor — is confirmed to be Death. Only the patients ever saw him as he offers them kind words before they die.
Ilonka — gets a new roommate, who takes Anya’s old bed.
Christopher Pike novels — stories that would have been told at The Midnight Club include Remember Me and possibly Monster.
Natsuki — would be the next to die.
Spence — his prognosis would no longer be terminal thanks to advancements in HIV treatment in the late ’90s. He would go home to live his life, just like Sandra did at the end of season 1.
Who is Dr. Stanton really? Dr. Stanton is really Athena, the daughter of the original Paragon cult leader, Aceso. She’s wearing a wig because she has cancer, and she has a tattoo because she was part of the cult when she was young. Ilonka found her initials Georgina Ballard (her maiden name) carved into a tree. She created Brightcliffe to celebrate life and undo the atrocities of her mother.
Kevin — would have died at the end of the season.
Ilonka — would have died shortly after Kevin.
The Living Shadow — is revealed to be the unknown. “As it engulfs someone, in the last moment of their life, it takes them through a place of understanding and catharsis, preparing them for the next step,” Flanagan wrote.
The Mirror Man and the Cataract Woman — not only are they revealed to be Stanley Oscar Freelan and his wife, the couple who built Brightcliffe, but they are the past selves of Ilonka and Kevin. They’re true soulmates who always find each other and fall in love.
The ending — Ilonka and Kevin would die without fear, knowing they would find each other again. “The series would end with Cheri telling this story to a whole new table of patients, including our new series leads. Most of our original cast now would exist as stories, a story told to the next ‘class’ of storytellers at the table, all of whom we will have met by the end of the season. A story called ‘The Midnight Club.'”
There you have it. At least there’s one final Flanagan project on the way to Netflix, after the stellar The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor and Midnight Mass. The Fall of the House of Usher, based on works by Edgar Allen Poe, will likely hit Netflix in 2023, with many of Flanagan’s favorite acting troupe set to appear, including Carla Gugino, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas and more.What are the origins of the Paragon cult?
The origins of the Paragon cult are all recorded in a diary that was kept by the cult leader’s disillusioned 16-year-old daughter, Athena. Athena wrote that the commune was started in 1931 by her mother, Regina Ballard. After Ballard’s husband died of pneumonia and her son of polio, she began a new age health philosophy — “a naturopathic alternative to the medical establishment.” But this philosophy changed for the worse thanks to Ballard’s obsession with five Greek goddess sisters all connected to healing.
