''The Midnight Club'' is an American horror mystery-thriller

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

series created by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong, with Flanagan serving as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also th ...

, lead writer and executive producer. The series is set in a

hospice Hospice care is a type of health care that focuses on the palliation of a terminally ill patient's pain and symptoms and attending to their emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by ...

and follows eight

terminally ill Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, dementia or advanced he ...

young adults who form "the Midnight Club", meeting up each night to tell each other scary tales; it features an overarching story while also frequently depicting those tales on-screen. Although mostly based on the 1994 novel ''The Midnight Club'' by Christopher Pike, the series also adapts short stories from "27" other Pike books, featured in the "Midnight Club" tales themselves. The series stars

Iman Benson Iman Benson (born June 25, 2000) is an American actress from Atlanta, Georgia best known for her roles in ''Uncle Buck'', '' Alexa & Katie'', and ''BlackAF ''#blackAF'' is an American sitcom created by Kenya Barris. It premiered on Netflix ...

, Adia, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Shephard, William Chris Sumpter, and Sauriyan Sapkota as the eight Midnight Club members, alongside

Heather Langenkamp Heather Elizabeth Langenkamp (born July 17, 1964) is an American actress. She is considered an influential figure in horror films and in popular culture, noted for her acting in several works of the genre and her behind-the-scenes work coordinat ...

Zach Gilford Zachary Michael Gilford (born January 14, 1982) is an American actor, known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC sports drama series '' Friday Night Lights''. In 2021, he starred in the Netflix horror limited series ''Midnight Mass''. In 2022, ...

, Matt Biedel, and

Samantha Sloyan Samantha Sloyan is an American actress. Sloyan is best known for her roles in ''In the Key of Eli'', ''Scandal'', ''Hush'', ''Midnight Mass'', and ''Grey's Anatomy''. Early life Samantha Sloyan was born in Los Angeles County, California. S ...

as older adults working at or living near the hospice; in addition to their main characters, cast members also portray the ones featured in the "Midnight Club" tales. ''The Midnight Club'' premiered on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

on October 7, 2022. Unlike all three of Flanagan's previous series, it is not a

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

, and was intended as a

limited-run series In television programming, a limited-run series (or simply limited series) is a program with an end date and limit to the number of episodes. For instance, The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' definition specifies a "program with two or mo ...

meant to run for two seasons. However, in December 2022, the series was canceled after one season.

Overview

A group of eight close terminally ill young adults resides in the Brightcliffe Home hospice outside of Seattle run by an enigmatic doctor. They meet at midnight every night to tell each other scary stories. They have a pact that the first one to succumb to their disease is responsible for communicating with the others from beyond the grave.

Cast

Main

as Ilonka, a teenager with

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck. C ...

who enrolls at Brightcliffe Hospice in the hopes of finding an unconventional cure * Igby Rigney as Kevin, a member of the Midnight Club who has terminal

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

* Ruth Codd as Anya, Ilonka's roommate with an Irish accent and member of the Midnight Club. She has a right lower leg amputation as a result of

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thyro ...

and uses a wheelchair for mobility. * Annarah Cymone as Sandra, a member of the Midnight Club who has terminal

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enlar ...

and is a devoted Christian * Chris Sumpter as Spencer, a member of the Midnight Club who has

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

* Adia as Cheri, a member of the Midnight Club who has wealthy parents and is a

pathological liar Pathological lying, also known as ''mythomania'' and ''pseudologia fantastica'', is a chronic behavior in which the person habitually or compulsively lies. These lies often serve no obvious purpose other than to paint oneself as a hero or victi ...

* Aya Furukawa as Natsuki, a member of the Midnight Club who has depression and terminal

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...

* Sauriyan Sapkota as Amesh, a member of the Midnight Club who has

glioblastoma Glioblastoma, previously known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), is one of the most aggressive types of cancer that begin within the brain. Initially, signs and symptoms of glioblastoma are nonspecific. They may include headaches, personality ch ...

and is the second newest arrival at Brightcliffe * Matt Biedel as Tim, Ilonka's foster father *

as Shasta, a woman who lives in a commune close to Brightcliffe Hospice *

as Mark, a Nurse Practitioner at Brightcliffe Hospice *

as Dr. Georgina Stanton, the enigmatic doctor who runs Brightcliffe Hospice

Recurring

Emilija Baranac Emilija Baranac (born August 4, 1994) is a Canadian actress and model. She is known for her portrayal of Midge Klump in The CW drama series '' Riverdale'' and as Genevieve in the ''To All the Boys I've Loved Before'' film series. Life and caree ...

as Katherine, Kevin's girlfriend *

Daniel Diemer Daniel Diemer (born 21 June 1996) is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Paul Munsky in Netflix's film ''The Half of It'', directed by Alice Wu. Prior to starring in the movie, he played smaller roles in ''The Man in the High Castle'' and ...

as Rhett, Anya's former friend * Katie Parker as Aceso, founder of Paragon * Larsen Thompson as Julia Jayne, a former patient at Brightcliffe Hospice * Robert Longstreet as Janitor at Brightcliffe Hospice *

William B. Davis William Bruce Davis (born January 13, 1938) is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as the Cigarette Smoking Man on ''The X-Files''. Besides appearing in many TV programs and movies, he founded his own acting school, the William Davis Ce ...

as Mirror Man, a ghostly figure in Ilonka's visions *

Patricia Drake Patricia Drake is a Canadian actress working on TV and in animated shows, mostly with Ocean Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Filmography Anime roles * ''Black Lagoon'' as Balalaika * '' Dragon Ball Z'' as Android 19 (Ocean dub) ...

as a ghostly figure in Ilonka's visions * Crystal Balint as Maggie, Ilonka's late foster mother * Jenaya Ross as Tristan, bed-ridden Brightcliffe Hospice resident *

Henry Thomas Henry Jackson Thomas Jr. (born September 9, 1971) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor and had a lead role in the film '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), for which he won a Young Artist Award and received Golden Globe ...

as Freedom Jack, a character in Natsuki's Midnight Club story * Alex Essoe as Poppy Corn, a character in Natsuki's Midnight Club story *

Rahul Kohli Rahul Kohli (born 13 November 1985) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti in ''iZombie (TV series), iZombie'' (2015–19), Owen Sharma in ''The Haunting of Bly Manor'' (2020), and Sheriff Hassan ...

as Vincent, a character in Amesh's Midnight Club story *

Michael Trucco Edward Michael Trucco (born June 22, 1970) is an American actor known for his role as Samuel Anders on the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' and his recurring role as Nick Petteruti in ''How I Met Your Mother''. He also appeared on the 2017– ...

as Frederick, a character in Amesh's Midnight Club story

Episodes

Production

Development

In May 2020, it was announced an adaptation of Christopher Pike's

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novel ''The Midnight Club'' would be created for

by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong. In an interview for

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, Flanagan revealed that he was profoundly inspired by

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

’s horror anthology series ''

Are You Afraid of the Dark? ''Are You Afraid of the Dark?'' is a horror anthology television series. The original series aired on Nickelodeon from 1992 to 1996; the pilot episode aired respectively on YTV and Nickelodeon in 1990 and 1991. It led to two revival series, w ...

''. On the series' release in October 2022, Flanagan confirmed that the series would also adapt all "28 books" of Pike's, having pitched the series as "''The Midnight Club'' — but the stories the kids tell ach otherwill be other Christopher Pike books", planning for multiple seasons. On December 1, 2022, Netflix canceled the series after one season. Following its cancellation, Flanagan revealed what was planned for later seasons on his

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, including the ultimate fates of the various characters and answers to the show's lingering mysteries.

Casting

Flanagan confirmed the cast in a series of tweets on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

: Adia, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Shephard, William Chris Sumpter, Sauriyan Sapkota as the titular cast, and

as the doctor presiding over the hospice of the terminally ill.

and Matt Biedel, and recurring Flanagan collaborators

and Robert Longstreet appear in recurring roles. In April 2021,

, Larsen Thompson,

, Crystal Balint, and Patricia Drak joined the cast.

Filming

The project began production on March 15, 2021, in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, and was planned to conclude on September 8, 2021, but actually finished production on September 10. The first two episodes of the series are directed by Flanagan, and other episodes in the season were helmed by directors

Axelle Carolyn Axelle Carolyn (born 3 April 1979 in Brussels) is a Belgian filmmaker and former actress and journalist. Biography Acting Amongst many other jobs she worked on her way to directing her first films, Carolyn briefly worked in front of the camera. ...

, Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour,

Michael Fimognari Michael Fimognari (born June 26, 1974) is an American cinematographer and director known for his collaborations with Mike Flanagan. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Pennsylvania State University before receiving a ma ...

, Morgan Beggs, and Viet Nguyen.

Release

''The Midnight Club'' was released on

on October 7, 2022.

Reception

The

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website

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reported an 87% approval rating with an average rating of 7.4/10, based on 54 critic reviews. The website's critics' consensus reads, " Mike Flanagan's hot streak of heartfelt horror stories continues strong in ''The Midnight Club'', a tale of terminal teenagers told with jolts and joie de vivre."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 64 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The first episode of the series broke the

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

for the most scripted jump-scares in a single episode of television at 21 jump-scares. Between October 2 and October 23, 2022, ''The Midnight Club'' recorded 90.31 million hours viewed in the Netflix top 10s.

References

External links

* * *
The Midnight Club
' at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Club 2020s American drama television series 2020s American LGBT-related drama television series 2020s American horror television series 2020s American mystery television series 2020s American supernatural television series 2022 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings American horror fiction television series American thriller television series Ghosts in television English-language Netflix original programming Horror drama television series Television series about cancer Television series about cults Television series about teenagers Television series about witchcraft Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in Burnaby