The Midnight Club is an American horror mystery-thriller television series created by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong. Mike Flanagan is the head writer, producer, and lead creator of the series. The show takes place in a hospice, a place where people receive care near the end of their lives. It follows eight young adults with serious illnesses who form a group called "the Midnight Club." Each night, they share scary stories with one another. The series includes both a main story that continues throughout the show and scenes that directly show the scary tales being told.

The series is mostly based on the 1994 book The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike. It also includes stories from 27 other books by Pike that are part of the "Midnight Club" collection.

The Midnight Club stars Iman Benson, Adia, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Shephard, William Chris Sumpter, and Sauriyan Sapkota as the eight members of the Midnight Club. Heather Langenkamp, Zach Gilford, Matt Biedel, and Samantha Sloyan appear as adults who work at or live near the hospice. Some cast members also play characters from the scary stories told in the series.

The Midnight Club first aired on Netflix on October 7, 2022. Unlike Mike Flanagan’s previous three series, this one was not a miniseries. It was planned to have two seasons. However, in December 2022, the series was canceled after only one season.

Overview

At the Brightcliffe Home hospice near Seattle, eight young adults who are seriously ill live together. The hospice is managed by a mysterious doctor. Each night at midnight, the group gathers to share frightening stories. They have an agreement that the first person to die from their illness will be responsible for contacting the others after they have passed away.

Cast

• Iman Benson plays Ilonka, a teenager with thyroid cancer who joins Brightcliffe Hospice in search of an unconventional cure.
• Igby Rigney plays Kevin, a member of the Midnight Club who has terminal leukemia.
• Ruth Codd plays Anya, Ilonka's roommate with an Irish accent and a member of the Midnight Club. Anya lost her right lower leg due to bone cancer and uses a wheelchair for mobility.
• Annarah Cymone plays Sandra, a member of the Midnight Club who has terminal lymphoma and is a devoted Christian.
• Chris Sumpter plays Spencer, a member of the Midnight Club who has AIDS.
• Adia plays Cheri, a member of the Midnight Club who has wealthy parents and often tells lies.
• Aya Furukawa plays Natsuki, a member of the Midnight Club who has depression and terminal ovarian cancer.
• Sauriyan Sapkota plays Amesh, a member of the Midnight Club who has glioblastoma and is the second newest resident at Brightcliffe.
• Matt Biedel plays Tim, Ilonka's foster father.
• Samantha Sloyan plays Shasta, a woman who lives in a commune near Brightcliffe Hospice.
• Zach Gilford plays Mark, a Nurse Practitioner at Brightcliffe Hospice.
• Heather Langenkamp plays Dr. Georgina Stanton, a mysterious doctor who runs Brightcliffe Hospice.

• Emilija Baranac plays Katherine, Kevin's girlfriend.
• Daniel Diemer plays Rhett, Anya's former friend.
• Katie Parker plays Aceso, founder of Paragon.
• Larsen Thompson plays Julia Jayne, a former patient at Brightcliffe Hospice.
• Robert Longstreet plays a janitor at Brightcliffe Hospice.
• William B. Davis plays Mirror Man, a ghostly figure in Ilonka's visions.
• Patricia Drake plays a ghostly figure in Ilonka's visions.
• Crystal Balint plays Maggie, Ilonka's late foster mother.
• Jenaya Ross plays Tristan, a bed-ridden resident at Brightcliffe Hospice.
• Henry Thomas plays Freedom Jack, a character in Natsuki's Midnight Club story.
• Alex Essoe plays Poppy Corn, a character in Natsuki's Midnight Club story.
• Rahul Kohli plays Vincent, a character in Amesh's Midnight Club story.
• Michael Trucco plays Frederick, a character in Amesh's Midnight Club story.

Production

In May 2020, Netflix announced a version of Christopher Pike's young adult novel The Midnight Club would be created by Mike Flanagan and Leah Fong. In an interview with IGN, Flanagan said he was deeply inspired by Nickelodeon's horror anthology series Are You Afraid of the Dark? When the series was released in October 2022, Flanagan confirmed it would also adapt all "28 books" by Pike, describing the series as "a version of The Midnight Club—but the stories the characters tell each other will be other Christopher Pike books." He planned for the series to have multiple seasons. On December 1, 2022, Netflix canceled the series after one season. After the cancellation, Flanagan shared details about future seasons on his Tumblr, including the final outcomes for characters and answers to unresolved questions in the show.

Mike Flanagan's sibling, Jamie, who worked on The Midnight Club as a writer and co-producer, said the club subplot was not part of the original plan. It was added because Netflix executives wanted a supernatural element in the main story. Jamie explained, "After Stranger Things, everyone wanted teenage characters with magical powers, but [executives] said, 'No, this is about children dying in a hospice—they don’t have magical powers!'"

Flanagan confirmed the cast in a series of tweets on Twitter: Adia, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, Aya Furukawa, Annarah Shephard, William Chris Sumpter, Sauriyan Sapkota as the main cast, and Heather Langenkamp as the doctor at the hospice for terminally ill patients. Zach Gilford, Matt Biedel, Samantha Sloyan, and Robert Longstreet appeared in recurring roles. In April 2021, Iman Benson, Larsen Thompson, William B. Davis, Crystal Balint, and Patricia Drak joined the cast.

Production for the project began on March 15, 2021, in Burnaby, British Columbia. It was planned to end on September 8, 2021, but finished on September 10. The first two episodes were directed by Flanagan, and other episodes in the season were directed by Axelle Carolyn, Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour, Michael Fimognari, Morgan Beggs, and Viet Nguyen.

Reception

The review website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 85% approval rating and an average score of 7.4 out of 10, based on 59 critic reviews. The site’s critics’ summary states, "Mike Flanagan’s series of successful horror stories continues with The Midnight Club, a story about teenagers with terminal illnesses told with exciting moments and joy." Metacritic, which calculates an average that considers different factors, gave the series a score of 65 out of 100 based on 21 critics, showing that most reviews were positive.

The first episode of the series set a Guinness World Record for having the most scripted jump-scare scenes in a single TV episode, with 21 jump-scares.

From October 2 to October 23, 2022, The Midnight Club was watched for a total of 90.31 million hours while it was in the top 10 on Netflix.