These are as personal and formative for Flanagan as they are for his characters.
But the first time the nameMidnight Massactually came up in his work was in 2016’sHush.
Her character’s best-selling work?
The back of the ‘Midnight Mass’ book in ‘Hush’.Netflix
A novel titledMidnight Mass.
It was just too long the first two acts alone ran 155 pages.
So, they began thinking of it more as a show.
Carla Gugino’s Jessie reaches for a copy of ‘Midnight Mass’ in ‘Gerald’s Game’.Netflix
The problem was, nobody seemed to want it.
Macy and Flanagan shopped the project around to several networks and “everyone passed.”
“I always thought of this as the best project I would never make,” Flanagan remarks.
Zach Gilford’s Riley and Hamish Linklater’s Father Paul in ‘Midnight Mass’.EIKE SCHROTER/NETFLIX
But in shipping them to Atlanta in between projects, they mysteriously vanished.
“It’s a strange world,” Flanagan remarks.
I thought they’d made it or something.
Hamish Linklater as Father Paul in ‘Midnight Mass’.Netflix
I went up and looked at it, and it was ours!
It was the actual door.
You never know where this stuff is out there in the world.
I hope more of those books are out there."
And it’ll become clear to anyone watching exactly why Flanagan kept returning to this story year after year.
“I don’t know how long I could have gone without writing it,” he says.
It’s happened to me withHill Housein a pretty big way.
It happened with [The Haunting of Bly Manor].
This one, though, was the story I always wanted to tell."
“It’s by far the most personal thing I’ve ever been lucky enough to work on.”
The success ofHill Housewas what finally madeMidnight Massa reality.
Netflix wanted to make another season, which they did Bly Manor.
Then, the real work began.
“Here’s this long scene I had written about atheism.
Let me look at that a few years later and rebut it.
Let me have a go at honestly come in and challenge my own idea.
Here’s a long scene about alcoholism.
Let me really give a shot to come in and talk about recovery,” Flanagan recalls.
