Mike Flanagan reveals the crazy ideas he originally had for Midnight Mass season 2. Following on the heels of his Netflix horror shows The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, Flanagan in 2021 unleashed arguably his greatest creation thus far, the philosophical vampire story Midnight Mass. Set on an isolated New England island, the show detailed the battle that ensued after the arrival of a mysterious priest (Hamish Linklater) and his terrifying supernatural companion.
Like Flanagan’s other Netflix shows, Midnight Mass was never intended to be an ongoing proposition, but he nevertheless did at one point have ideas for a Midnight Mass season 2. Speaking to the Script Apart podcast (via Empire), Flanagan detailed one particularly wild idea he had for a second season, which would have seen season 1 character Riley (Zach Gilford) surviving to the end, only to wind up as the villain for season 2. Check out what Flanagan had to say in the space below:
“It took years for me to realize that [Riley] had to get out of the way. That really broke things open in a huge way. We had done hints about a potential second season of the show, where Riley fights with the angel at the end, and you see him get his throat ripped open. You never see him die on screen. He came back as the antagonist of the second season, as this traveling preacher with a Southern Baptist revival tent. It was Warren and Leeza chasing him across America, trying to kill Riley, because he was now the villain of the story.”
Will Midnight Mass Season 2 Ever Happen
Fans of Midnight Mass of course know that Riley died in very memorable fashion midway through season 1, letting the sun kill him in front of Erin (Kate Siegel) to show her that he had become a vampire. Given the power of that particular scene, it’s actually hard to imagine Midnight Mass playing out any other way, but apparently there was an early version of the story that went in a very different direction.
Midnight Mass season 1 of course ended in truly spectacular fashion, with most of the residents of Crockett Island dying, and the “angel” vampire seemingly being defeated. But the fate of the vampire was in fact kept ambiguous enough that it is possible to envision a story for Midnight Mass season 2. That story could indeed involve the characters of Warren (Igby Rigney) and Leeza (Annarah Cymone), the only two survivors of the Crockett Island carnage.
But while the door seems open at least a crack on Midnight Mass season 2 becoming a reality, chances are it will never come to fruition. Flanagan indeed seems interested only in creating one-off limited series like his recent Midnight Club and his upcoming The Fall of the House of Usher. Flanagan would likely have to dream up a very compelling story to even consider revisiting Midnight Mass. His original Riley as the villain idea might have been very interesting, but obviously, Flanagan made the right choice by killing Riley in season 1 at the exact right point to propel the story on to its shocking and memorable finale.
Source: Script Apart (via Empire)