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I will watch just about anything by writer, director, and producer Mike Flanagan - the man behind some some of the best horror movies in recent memory (such as Oculus or Doctor Sleep) and acclaimed horror TV shows The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor. That being said, Midnight Mass, his next limited series with the streaming platform, is one of my most anticipated Netflix TV shows, especially for its ensemble led by Zach Gilford. Other fans of Flanagan’s previous work should also be able to recognize several faces from the Midnight Mass cast, whose careers up to this point (and in the future) we will break down for you one-by-one below.
Zach Gilford (Riley Flynn)
Riley Flynn, a down-on-his-luck Crockett Island native who returns after years away in Midnight Mass, is not the first horror-centric role for Friday Night Lights cast alum Zach Gilford. He made his film debut in 2006’s The Last Winter, played the male lead of Radio Silence’s Devil’s Due in 2014, and starred in The Purge: Anarchy the same year. He will reunite with Mike Flanagan for another Netflix series called The Midnight Club, set to premiere in 2022, and his upcoming Showtime drama Hombre is now in post-production.
Hamish Linklater (Father Paul)
Aside from the Hulu horror TV show Monsterland, the 2020 reboot of Stephen King’s The Stand, or the FX drama Legion (one of the weirdest Marvel TV shows ever), Midnight Mass’ mysterious Father Paul is the first horror-centric role of Hamish Linklater, who was previously best known on TV for playing Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ brother on The New Adventures of Old Christine. The actor’s film career includes 2005’s Fantastic Four, the 2012 board game movie Battleship, the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, the Oscar-winning historical dramedy The Big Short, and director Walter Hill’s upcoming western Dead for a Dollar.
Kate Siegel (Erin Greene)
Crockett Island school teacher Erin Greene is played by Mike Flanagan’s wife Kate Siegel, who has starred in almost everything her husband has made (save Doctor Sleep and Before I Wake) since they first worked together on Oculus, most notably as the lead and co-writer of 2016’s Hush (one of the best horror movies on Netflix), Theodora Crain in The Haunting of Hill House, and Viola in The Haunting of Bly Manor. The actress has another Netflix original horror project after Midnight Mass in the works (a movie called Hypnotic), is filming a series adaptation of The Time Traveler’s Wife, and (despite little-to-no recent updates on the subject) she and Flanagan have reportedly been attached to an adaptation of the book 13 Days to Midnight since 2015.
Rahul Kohli (Sheriff Hassan)
Rahul Kohli stars as the Crockett Island sheriff Hassan in Midnight Mass, which is the second collaboration with Mike Flanagan after playing Owen in The Haunting of Bly Manor. The London-born actor is also known for several comic book adaptations including a regular role on iZombie, a recurring role on Supergirl, and lending his voice to HBO Max’s Harley Quinn series as Scarecrow and two roles on Disney Junior’s animated The Rocketeer reboot. He also has a show in the works that has no connection to Marvel but features characters Marvel fans may recognize called Twilight of the Gods and will join former Criminal Minds cast member Mandy Patinkin for Hulu’s Career Opportunities in Murder and Mayhem.
Rahul Abburi (Ali Hassan)
Playing Sheriff Hassan’s son, Ali, is Rahul Abburi, who only had two screen acting credits to his name before joining the Midnight Mass cast. He debuted on the Dan Harmon-produced, YouTube Red original sports series Good Game in 2017 before appearing in the 2020 crime drama Kidnapped by a Classmate.
Igby Rigney (Warren Flynn)
Playing Ali Hassan’s fiend Warren Flynn is Igby Rigney, who only had four screen acting credits to his name before joining the Midnight Mass cast. He debuted on a Season 8 episode of Blue Bloods in 2018 before starring in the short LGBTQ+ drama Last Summer with Uncle Ira in 2020, the feature-length LGBTQ+ drama Joe Bell (opposite Mark Wahlberg) in 2021, and making a brief appearance in F9: The Fast Saga the same year. He will star in another LGBTQ+ film (a funny coming-of-age musical called Out of My Comfort Zone) after he reunites with Mike Flanagan for The Midnight Club.
Crystal Balint (Dolly)
Another Midnight Mass cast alum who will also return for The Midnight Club is Crystal Balint, who started off with bit parts on hit TV shows like Psych or Supernatural before appearing in the 2016 thriller Shut In opposite Naomi and landing recurring roles on the Arrow cast as Officer Thompson or as Heather on the Season 5 revival of Prison Break in 2017. She also appeared in another spooky (but far more family-friendly) Netflix original in 2020 called A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting and joined the Riverdale cast for a Season 5 episode as Dr. Sherry Winters.
Matt Biedel (Sturge)
Another Midnight Mass alum who will also return for The Midnight Club is Matt Biedel, who also appeared in several other Netflix originals previously - namely the inventive sci-fi noir Altered Carbon, the unique comic book adaptation The Umbrella Academy, and Season 2 of crime drama spin-off Narcos: Mexico. Before then, the star of 2017 found footage thriller Phoenix Forgotten landed guest spots on various hit TV shows, from procedurals like CSI: Miami and NCIS, to more sci-fi series Medium or Heroes, and soapier dramas like All My Children and Mad Men, too.
Alex Essoe (Mildred Gunning)
Midnight Mass is the third Mike Flanagan-led project starring Alex Essoe, who played Danny Torrance’s mother, Wendy, in Doctor Sleep and Charlotte, the late mother of the Wingrave children, in The Haunting of Bly Manor, but it was her strong lead performance in Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer’s arresting 2014 horror film Starry Eyes that first skyrocketed her to Scream Queen status. She would also appear in 2015’s Tales of Halloween (one of the more underrated anthology horror movies in recent memory), Darren Lynn Bousman’s Death of Me (a 2020 horror movie that can also be found on Netflix), and the strange 2021 thriller Faceless.
Annabeth Gish (Dr. Sarah Gunning)
Midnight Mass is also the third Mike Flanagan-led project starring Annabeth Gish, who played a social worker named Natalie Friedman in Before I Wake and Clara Dudley, the former housekeeper to the Hill Family, in The Haunting of Hill House. It was 1980s coming-of-age films like Hiding Out (opposite Jon Cryer) and Mystic Pizza (opposite Julia Roberts and Lili Taylor), the 1994 western Wyatt Earp, and Oliver Stone’s 1995 Richard Nixon biopic with Sir Anthony Hopkins that made her a respected and sought after talent. Gish is also known for acclaimed TV dramas like The West Wing, The X-Files, and Halt and Catch Fire, and her upcoming thriller Stay at Conder Beach is now in post-production.
Robert Longstreet (Joe Collie)
Before playing Joe Collie in Midnight Mass, Robert Longstreet played Annabeth Gish’s husband, Horace Dudley, in The Haunting of Hill House, which was his first collaboration with Mike Flanagan before playing Barry the Chunk in Doctor Sleep. The roles made him a bit of a “Scream King” as of late (he also stars in Halloween Kills and has a part in The Midnight Club), but the actor is really a jack of all trades, having done comedies like Sorry To Bother You, comic book movies like Aquaman, and historical biopics like Judas and the Black Messiah, which took home two Academy Awards in 2021.
Kristin Lehman (Annie Flynn)
Horror has also defined many highlights of Kristin Lehman’s career before playing Riley Flynn’s mother, Annie, on Midnight Mass - including her starring role on Poltergeist: The Legacy (a spin-off of the 1982 horror classic by name, really), multiple episodes of the 1990s Outer Limits reboot, the Syfy original Ghost Wars, and appearances in two different revivals of The Twilight Zone (including producer Jordan Peele’s version). She also made her feature film debut in the adventure story Alaska, appears in the director’s cut of The Chronicles of Riddick, had a recurring role on The Killing as well as on fellow Netflix original Altered Carbon.
Henry Thomas (Ed Flynn)
Playing Annie Flynn’s husband, Ed, in Midnight Mass is Henry Thomas - another frequent collaborator of Mike Flanagan with roles in 2016’s Ouija: Origin of Evil, the 2017 Stephen King adaptation Gerald’s Game, his cameo as Jack Torrence in Doctor Sleep, and both titles of Netflix’s Haunting Collection. He also played Brad Pitt’s younger brother in Legends of the Fall, plays the original Dr. Mid-Nite on Stargirl, will appear on Disney+’s Just Beyond - an upcoming anthology series based on a comic by R.L. Stine. However, to this day, Thomas’ best-known role is Elliott from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial from when he was 10 years old.
Samantha Sloyan (Bev Keane)
Before playing Bev Keane in Midnight Mass, Samantha Sloyan played Henry Thomas’ daughter-in-law, Leigh Crain, in The Haunting of Hill, which was her second collaboration with Mike Flanagan after a small, but memorable role in Hush. The actress, who will also be appearing in The Midnight Club, is also a frequent collaborator of Shonda Rhimes, having landed recurring roles on Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy years before appearing on Hulu’s Marvel Comics adaptation Helstrom in 2020.
Michael Trucco (Wade)
Before playing Wade in Midnight Mass, Michael Trucco played Samantha Sloyan’s boyfriend, John, in Hush - his only other Mike Flanagan project. However, the small part in the home invasion thriller followed a pretty successful career that include recurring roles on the original Beverly Hills, 90210 and One Tree Hill cast, playing Samuel Enders on Syfy’s acclaimed Battlestar Galactica reboot, and joining the How I Met Your Mother cast as Robin’s boyfriend Nick. While he will not be appearing on The Midnight Club, Trucco will reunite with his former Battlestar Galactica cast member Katee Sackhoff in a new sci-fi project called The Last Transport.
In case you were wondering, despite sharing several cast members, The Midnight Club (an adaptation of a Christopher Pike novel) has no connection to Midnight Mass (a completely original creation by Mike Flanagan). See how the creepy limited series compares to the filmmaker’s previous Netflix original miniseries, which is available on Netflix as of Friday, September 24, 2021.
