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Nicholas Cannon

The Fall Of The House of Usher: release date, cast, plot and all about the Edgar Allan Poe horror adaptation

The Fall of The House of Usher on Netflix will feature Star Wars legend Mark Hamill and Cagney & Lacey star Carl Lumbly.

Netflix’s supernatural thriller The Fall Of The House of Usher comes from the team behind The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor and also stars Mark Hamill (Star Wars) in the creepy tale.

Based on the Gothic horror tale The Fall Of The House of Usher by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, the eight-part series directed by Mike Flanagan includes themes of madness, family, isolation and tragedy, as well as a very spooky family mansion that’s rumored to be alive! 

So here’s everything we know so far about the upcoming supernatural horror series The Fall Of The House Of Usher, which also stars Supergirl and Cagney and Lacey star Carl Lumbly, Battlestar Galactica's Mary McDonnell and The Resident's Bruce Greenwood…

A tense family meal in The Fall Of The House Of Usher. (Image credit: Netflix)
Scream time in The Fall Of The House Of Usher. (Image credit: Netflix)

The Fall Of The House of Usher release date

The Fall Of The House of Usher will be released on Netflix on October 12 2023 as an eight-episode series. So the horror is arriving well in time to creep us out for Halloween...

The Fall Of The House of Usher plot

This new version of The Fall Of The House of Usher gives a modern twist to the classic Edgar Allan Poe horror. It follows ruthless siblings Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell) who have built up Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into mega powerful empire. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth.

The Fall Of The House of Usher is a modern version of the classic Edgar Allan Poe horror story. (Image credit: Netflix)

The Fall Of The House of Usher main cast

  • Bruce Greenwood (The Resident) leads the cast as Roderick Usher, described as "the towering patriarch of the Usher dynasty". Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon) had previously been cast as Roderick but left the show in April. 
  • Mary McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica, Dances With Wolves), who plays Roderick’s twin sister Madeline
  • Carl Lumbly (Cagney and Lacey, Supergirl) is investigator C. Auguste Dupin, who was featured in multiple works by Poe. 
  • E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial star Henry Thomas, Foundation actress T’Nia Miller, Kate Siegel, Michael Trucco, and Paola Nunez will also star.
Bruce Greenwood as Roderick Usher. (Image credit: Netflix)
Mary McDonnell is playing Roderick Usher’s twin sister Madeline. (Image credit: Netflix)

The Fall Of The House of Usher star Mark Hamill

Mark Hamill, best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film franchise, plays a character yet to be named in The Fall Of The House of Usher, but who’s described as being "surprisingly at home in the shadows."

As well as Star Wars, Mark Hamill has also recently appeared on TV in Man Down, The Big Bang Theory and What We Do In The Shadows

Playing Luke Skywalker in Star Wars in the 1970s propelled Mark Hamill to worldwide stardom. (Image credit: Alamy)

Who else is starring in The Fall of the House Of Usher

The remaining cast of The Fall of the House Of Usher sees familiar faces from The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass, including Carla Gugino as Verna.

"It’s bats*t crazy in the best possible way. It has quite a lot of very dark humor, but also really touches the soul," Carla Gugino said in a pre-SAG-AFTRA strike statement (via Variety). "There is a fantastical supernatural element to the story, and [Verna] is the manifestation of that. You could say she’s the executor of fate or the executor of karma."

Other cast includes ET legend Henry Thomas, plus Michael Trucco, T’Nia Miller, Paola Nuñez, , Kyleigh Curran, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Willa Fitzgerald, Katie Parker, Malcolm Goodwin, Crystal Balint, Aya Furukawa, Daniel Jun, Matt Biedel, Ruth Codd, Annabeth Gish, Igby Rigney, and Robert Longstreet.

Carla Gugino as Verna in The Fall Of The House of Usher. (Image credit: Netflix)

Is there a trailer for The Fall Of The House of Usher?

There's no trailer for The Fall Of The House of Usher, but we will post it once one arrives.

Behind the scenes and filming new on The Fall Of The House of Usher

On July 9 2021, director Mike Flanagan announced on Twitter that production for The Fall Of The House Of Usher has ended, saying "A few minutes ago we wrapped production on THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, closing a huge chapter of my life."

Star Mark Hamill stayed loyal and keeping all details of the film under wraps, tweeting "No comment since I've taken a vow of secrecy for @flanaganfilm's THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER. Here's all you need to know in six words: Mike Flanagan does Edgar Allan Poe. #NuffSaid"

Mike Flanagan directs four episodes, while his collaborator Michael Fimognari directing the other four.

The Fall Of the House Of Usher and its author Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe wrote the original The Fall of the House of Usher as a supernatural short story, which was first published in 1839. It follows Roderick Usher and his twin sister Madeline, who live in a mansion that Roderick believes is alive and exercises some degree of control over its inhabitants. Madeline suffers from strange, deathlike trances and Roderick is experiencing worsening mental illness and hysteria. The story charts a family falling into madness and isolation, while the new Netflix series is described as a modern-day interpretation that draws from various Poe tales in an epic tale of greed, horror and tragedy.

Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809 and his tale The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) initiated the modern detective story, while The Raven, penned in 1845, remains one of the best-known poems in American literature. Poe died in 1949 in mysterious circumstances, having been found delirious on the streets of Baltimore.

'The Fall Of The House Of Usher' author Edgar Allan Poe. (Image credit: Alamy)
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