The upcoming TV adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House has just found its female lead in the shape of Sin City actress Carla Gugino. Filmmaker Mike Flanagan (Oculus) has been working on the Netflix show and had already announced the male lead, and now the latest addition to the cast has been revealed.
The series was first announced in April and was seen as being another significant step forward for more original genre content on Netflix after having notable successes with the likes of Hemlock Grove, Black Mirror, and especially Stranger Things. Expectations were heightened when noted horror director Flanagan was announced as the showrunner, who is writing and directing as well as executive producing alongside his producing partner, Trevor Macy, and Amblin TV's Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. The series will consist of 10 episodes and be roughly based on the classic horror novel of the same name, written by Shirley Jackson in 1959. The only casting announcement made so far has been the appointment of Michiel Huisman as the male lead, which was revealed back in June.
Now Deadline has tapped actress Carla Gugino as the female lead in the series. Gugino is no stranger to genre TV, having also starred in both seasons of Wayward Pines. She's also well known for her roles in movies like San Andreas and Watchmen. It will also be something of a reunion between the actress and the director, as she recently starred in Gerald's Game, the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's twisted novel which Flanagan also directed for Netflix. The combination of star and filmmaker bodes well, as King pronounced that film to be "horrifying and hypnotic".
Although the series is based specifically on the source novel, which follows four people spending the summer in a supposedly haunted house to prove that the supernatural is real, it's unlikely to be that straightforward. There are rumors that the actual title for the show has yet to be decided and it certainly will make the most of the extra running time to embellish the history of the house - and the family that inhabits it. Huisman will be playing a member of the Crane family, but it's not been made clear yet what Gugino's role will be, either that of a family member or one of the potentially doomed visitors.
The series will have one superlative version to follow (The Haunting from 1963) and one critically derided one (The Haunting from 1999), but with the director and the cast so far, it looks like it may well be another creepy winner for Netflix.
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Source: Deadline