The Haunting of Bly Manor delivers spine-tingling twists and spooks up until the very end of the series.
Yes, the story predominantly follows Victoria Pedretti's Dani Clayton, an American governess (read: nanny) who arrives in the English countryside to look after two orphaned children (Amelie Bea Smith and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) at a property she soon realizes is twisted AF. But Bly Manor is worth watching for the pretty unexpected backstories that every single character in the series has—not just Dani's.
As a follow-up to director Mike Flanagan's 2018 hit The Haunting of Hill House, it's a treat to watch Pedretti reunite with former cast mates like Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Henry Thomas, who take up entirely different roles. And while Bly Manor may have just hit Netflix on Friday, Oct. 9, T'Nia Miller's brilliant and jaw-dropping performance as Hannah Grose is already a fan favorite.
In an exclusive interview with E! News, Miller opened up about just how horrifying Bly Manor is—and what it was like to play such a mysterious yet instantly likeable character. (Warning: spoilers ahead.)
"The trailer I think is actually scarier than the series," Miller says. "And don't get me wrong, it's scary, there are some scary moments. But actually what prevails over all of that is this beautiful, epic love story that we in society, and the viewers watching, we can see ourselves in those characters."
"It is a slow burner, but it creeps and creeps and creeps and once you get to, say, episode four, episode five, it spins you and it takes you on a rollercoaster journey or ride and you're sort of waiting to exhale. And you will get to by the end of episode nine, and then you'll probably cry."
Speaking of episode five, it's that one in particular that has left some fans reeling. As viewers learned after a series of flashbacks, time hops and the repetition of the same scenes with slightly different events, Mrs. Grose is a ghost—and she's experiencing Bly Manor as a dead person. For Miller, that was a wild revelation after reading the script.
"When I read episode five I was like, ‘Oh, s--t! She's a ghost! Damn. How do I play a ghost? I'm not sure how I do that," she says. "That was a twist for me. I didn't see it coming." Miller adds that realizing Hannah's journey was not "everything it seems to be" was the most surprising part of the Bly Manor experience.
We'd totally agree, except for, well, that epic series finale.