By David Craig

Published: Wednesday, 05 October 2022 at 12:00 am

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Netflix’s resident horror maestro Mike Flanagan, who wowed viewers with The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass, returns in time for Halloween with another creepy series.

Based on the novel by Christopher Pike (and more of his works), The Midnight Club follows a group of terminally ill teenagers living together in a hospice opened specifically for young people.

They gather in the middle of the night to tell each other stories in the facility’s generously stocked library, and make a pact that the first of them to die will make contact from beyond if indeed there is an afterlife.

Sure enough, shortly after one of the patients succumbs to their illness, strange occurrences are witnessed throughout the maze-like property – but is it a friend reaching out or something altogether more sinister?

Read on for everything you need to know about Netflix‘s The Midnight Club.

The Midnight Club release date

The Midnight Club will be released on Netflix on Friday 7th October 2022, making it a prime candidate for Halloween-themed home viewing.

Mike Flanagan’s previous series – the similarly titled but unrelated Midnight Mass – released around the same time last year and became a big hit for the streaming service.

The Midnight Club consists of 10 episodes in total, each of which clocks in at about an hour in length.

The Midnight Club cast

The Midnight Club cast is comprised largely of unknowns, but any could become overnight stars following their moving performances in this unmissable series.

Iman Benson (#BlackAF) leads the cast as Ilonka, a new admission to the hospice, who is immediately placed in a shared room with one of its fiercest patients, Anya, played by newcomer Ruth Codd.

She soon meets more Midnight Club members, including Igby Rigney as former high school athlete Kevin, Annarah Cymone as pious church-goer Sandra, and Adia as Cheri, the eccentric daughter of Hollywood stars (or so she says).

Other patients and club attendees include video game nerd Amesh (played by Sauriyan Sapkota), as well as Spencer (Chris Sumpter) and Natsuki (Aya Furukawa, The Baby-Sitters Club), both of whom are battling trauma beyond their diagnoses.

Fans of Mike Flanagan’s work will recognise Rigney and Cymone from his previous miniseries Midnight Mass, while several cast members from The Midnight Club are set to appear in his follow-up project The Fall of the House of Usher.

The writer and filmmaker has a reputation for repeat collaborations, with fellow Midnight Mass actors Matt Biedel, Zach Gilford and Samantha Sloyan also featuring here, alongside The Haunting of Bly Manor‘s Rahul Kohli in a guest role.

The main adult character on the show is played by Nightmare on Elm Street icon Heather Langenkamp, who plays the founder of the hospice, Dr Georgina Stanton.

What is The Midnight Club about?

The Midnight Club has an unconventional narrative, which hops between spooky stories told by the hospice patients and events unfolding in the real world, all of which is inspired by the books of horror novelist Christopher Pike.

A key focus is on newest patient Ilonka as she attempts to unravel a mystery surrounding a patient from decades ago, as well as the building’s historic connection with a cult that ended in tragedy.

Could either be connected to the nightmarish visions she experiences around the institution? Or can they be attributed to hallucinatory side effects from the strong medication she is being prescribed?

We also get to know the members of The Midnight Club personally, including how their illness has affected their relationships with friends and family, as well as how it has shaped their outlook on what time they have left.

The Midnight Club trailer

Netflix dropped a full three-minute The Midnight Club trailer in September. Watch below.