Horror fans are still reeling from the disappointing news of Netflix’s cancellation. Mike FlanaganX midnight club. There are so many plot threads left in the air, and as Flanagan promised, the writer-director broke what the entire second season could have looked like.
In an extremely detailed Tumblr post, Flanagan went into detail about the season, which would further advance its dark and emotional themes. Simply put, many more of our favorite characters were about to die. The season was supposed to open with Amesha’s progressive glioblastoma. The first few episodes will focus on the love story between him and Natsuki before Amesha’s death. Like Anya, Amesh will see the shadow of “Death”. To make the situation even more heartbreaking, Natsuki will soon die. However, on a more pleasant note, Spence will survive and no longer be fatal thanks to advances in HIV treatments.
As for our protagonist Illonka, she tries to reconcile with Julia Jane by tricking her into helping the Perfection cult. The biggest plot thread will be Illonka’s story about Christopher PikeX remember me. Flanagan has stated that it is one of his favorite Pike books and tells the story of a teenage girl who is pushed off a balcony, dies and wakes up as a ghost. She must try to solve her own murder by coming to terms with her new reality of death. It will be Illonka facing her own mortality, which was a major theme in the first season. However, Illonka will not become the star of her own story, but Anya. Ironically, Anya, who tragically died in the first season, will live on in this story. As Flanagan points out, storytelling is how the dead live, and it would be a way for Illonka to mourn/honor the loss of her friend, as she imagines Anya waking up as a ghost. This emotional arc was supposed to span five episodes, similar to how Kevin’s “Heart of Wicked” spanned multiple episodes last season. However, Anya’s newfound role is not a fluke, as Illonka will take Anya’s former place in spirit as she is cold towards her new roommate, Cheri. Just like Anya did.
However, everyone wants answers to the major cliffhanger surrounding Dr. Stanton. Well, buckle up, because Stanton was the daughter of cult leader Paragon Aseso. She wrote a diary that Illonka found in the first season, as she was part of a cult as a teenager. That’s why she had a tattoo. These were her initials, which Illonka found on a tree: Georgina Ballard (UK) was her maiden name. However, she turned to her mother and helped the children escape. She took back her property after her mother’s death to celebrate life. The reason she wore a wig was because she had cancer. According to Flanagan, there was no malice towards her character. She was just going through chemotherapy, which would have been successful, and Stanton would have gone into remission.
However, this isn’t even the biggest reveal of the canceled season, as “Death” or “Living Shadow” wouldn’t turn out to be evil at all, but a being that helped people get to the other side by offering kind words before they died. This entity will be Robert Longstreeta janitor character who was only seen by patients in the first season. Finally, Flanagan revealed that both Kevin and Illonka would die by the end of the season. However, that’s not all, as they were the reincarnations of “Mirror Man” and “Cataract Woman”. It was actually Stanley Oscar Freelan (a reference to Shine) and his wife, who built Brightcliff. Kevin was the wife and Stanley was the Illonka. In a rare sweet twist for the series, they were kindred spirits. There’s a lot more to it than that as Flanagan reveals the entire backstory of the pair of ghostly lovers, but the season will end with Cherie revealing Stanley and his wife’s love story to the new Midnight Club. Illonka, Kevin, Amesh, Anya and Natsuki will live their own stories.
What Flanagan describes in this second season review explains why he is arguably the genre’s greatest storyteller we have today. First season midnight club was a dark tale about coming to terms with the concept of death. It was not a fairy tale that everyone survived from, but rather a twisted harsh reality and a reminder that our time on this Earth is very precious. However, this heavy emotional narrative was also a hopeful love letter to narrative. The second season sounded like it was going to take all those amazing concepts and take them to an exciting new level. You can also tell that Flanagan is just as heartbroken as horror fans.
While we mourn, you can read Flanagan’s full mind-blowing breakdown of Season 2 on his Tumblr. trailer for midnight club can be viewed below.
Source: Collider
