Exclusive

Midnight Mass Stars React to Stephen King's Glowing Review of the Netflix Show

During an exclusive chat with E! News, the stars of Midnight Mass learned how Stephen King felt about their new Netflix horror series.

By Alyssa Ray Sep 16, 2021 12:13 AMTags
Watch: "Midnight Mass" Cast Reacts to Stephen King's High Praise

Midnight Mass has gotten the Stephen King stamp of approval.

On Thursday, Sept. 14, the renowned horror novelist took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Mike Flanagan's latest supernatural series for Netflix, calling it "a dense, beautifully photographed terror tale that climbs to a high pitch of horror by the 7th and last episode." E! News broke this glowing review to the cast of Midnight Mass, who got (the good kind of) chills from King's words.

"If you could see my blonde hairy arms, you would see the goosebumps," Kristin Lehman, who plays Annie Flynn, exclusively told E! News. "I'm speechless."

Co-star Annabeth Gish, who previously worked on King projects Desperation and Bag of Bones, was equally delighted by the high praise. "He has so many listeners and followers," she noted, "so, hopefully, they'll pay attention."

Zach Gilford, who leads Midnight Mass as Riley Flynn, had a surprisingly calm reaction...at first.

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2021 TV Premiere Dates

"Eh," he quipped before stating, "No, I'm just kidding! I mean, if Stephen King talks about something you did, you're like, 'Wow, that's really cool!' It's just cool that he even watched it, and the fact that he enjoyed it enough to publicly say something positive about it."

Haunting of Hill House/Bly Manor alum Kate Siegel, who acts opposite Gilford in Midnight Mass as Erin Greene, joked that she was "screaming internally" following King's remarks.

As for Hamish Linklater, who plays the eerily powerful Father Paul, he said King was "correct" in his review of the Netflix series. "And you know how you know he's correct? 'Cause he's Stephen frickin' King," he quipped. "He's not profligate with his praise. That's real nice."

Samantha Sloyan, who plays devout Catholic Bev Keane in the show, also weighed in on the review by applauding King's description of Midnight Mass. "It's beautiful," she reflected.

Of course, we can't say we're surprised that King enjoyed Midnight Mass, as he's collaborated with Flanagan in the past. In 2017, Flanagan helmed the film adaptation of King's novel Gerald's Game for Netflix. He later wrote and directed the 2019 big-screen adaptation of Doctor Sleep, King's sequel to The Shining.

See the Midnight Mass cast's reactions to King's praise for yourself in the exclusive interview above.

Midnight Mass premieres Sept. 24 on Netflix.

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