The house represents the past, and we cant escape it, says Reaser.
The house is inside of us all now, in a way.
(Henry Thomas and Carla Gugino play the parents in the flashbacks.)
Credit: Steve Dietl/Netflix
EW talked to Flanagan, whos currently shootingThe ShiningsequelDoctor Sleep, about crafting his latest ghost story.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Shirley Jacksons book has been adapted twice before.
The book itself has always been something I revere.
I was never going to be possible to improve on Shirley Jackson, or Robert Wise for that matter.
Youve made a career out of making ghost stories.
Everyone is haunted by something.
The horror genre is a fantastic thing because it is a mirror for us.
It is rich with metaphorical opportunities.
A ghost can be a lot of things: memories, guilt, regrets, trauma, loss.
That is the thesis of this show, if Im honest.
Ghosts are just reflections, and I find that fascinating.
The house is such a major presence in this story.
But we also wanted to bring an additional degree of schizophrenia to the design.
It was also important to us that the house exist somewhat out of time.
We didnt want the house to seem to fit into any particular era, or style.
It was a collection of various pasts, both inside and out.
The initial episodes each focus on a different family member.
Will that structure continue moving forward?It absolutely will.
That structure was one of the things I found most exciting about the project.
Wed get to know these siblings and parents on their own terms.
Everyone only has a piece.
People treat each other in fascinating ways; we behave differently.
Something very bad happened on the familys last night in Hill House.
We wont really see what happened until we get to Olivias episode, toward the end of the season.
She might be the only member of the family who can truly understand the events of that night.
The early episodes only show the house in flashbacks.
But the big question is whether all of them will come out.
Is this something you see going multiple seasons with the same characters?
We set out to tell the story of the Crain family, and I think we did that.
But, as Steven says in the show, this is ultimately about haunted houses and haunted people.
Fortunately for us, theres no shortage of either.
