Mike Flanagan has delivered three of Netflix’s most chilling series with The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass, and was on a seemingly smooth course for a fourth with The Fall of the House of Usher until leading man Frank Langella was fired following a misconduct investigation. Now, just over two weeks after Langella was fired, the show has found a new star, and he’ll be a familiar face to face of Flanagan’s body of work. Bruce Greenwood – also known for his ongoing work as a series regular on Fox’s The Resident – will play Roderick Usher for the upcoming show.
Unlike some of the other stars of The Fall of the House of Usher, Bruce Greenwood hasn’t starred in one or more of the other shows created and produced by Mike Flanagan. He did, however, have roles in Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game, both of which were directed and written by Flanagan. In announcing that Greenwood has joined the cast of the series based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, the multi-hyphenate revealed that there was another collaboration that few fans likely know about. On Twitter, Flanagan wrote:
I'm elated to welcome my dear friend, the brilliant BRUCE GREENWOOD to THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER as the iconic Roderick Usher. This will be our 4th collaboration (because yes, I absolutely count the background ghost cameo in HILL HOUSE).
Yes, Bruce Greenwood did have an appearance in The Haunting of Hill House, although he wasn’t one of the ghosts delivering jump scares for an entire season. (An eagle-eyed Twitter user spotted Greenwood as appearing in the fifth episode after young Nell saw The Bent-Neck Lady.) So, The Fall of the House of Usher won’t technically be his first Mike Flanagan Netflix show, but it will showcase him in a big way.
He’s not only going to be the leading man of an explosive show that was reportedly about halfway through filming, but will have to reshoot the scenes that had already been completed with Frank Langella as Roderick Usher. Greenwood does have plenty of TV experience, with a season of American Crime Story under his belt, as well as a series regular role as a doctor on The Resident, which has had some big twists for him in the current Season 5.
The timing of Greenwood joining the Netflix show as The Resident’s fifth season finale approaches hopefully means that The Fall of the House of Usher won’t require his absence from the medical drama, but only time will tell on that front. He joins a cast full of talented actors, including many who have experience both in the horror genre and in Mike Flanagan projects available streaming with a Netflix subscription.
Viewers will see Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, Samantha Sloyan, T'Nia Miller, Zach Gilford, and Annabeth Gish in the project as well as Greenwood, all of whom appeared in Haunting of Hill House, Haunting of Bly Manor, and/or Midnight Mass. Mark Hamill also landed a role. No premiere date has been revealed for The Fall of the House of Usher, but you can always revisit the Haunting shows as well as Midnight Mass on Netflix to pass the time. Alternatively, you can check out our 2022 TV schedule for some upcoming premieres.
