The Fall of the House of Usher: Release Date, Trailer, and Everything to Know

The rising king of television horror is taking a stab at one of the biggest names in gothic literature – Edgar Allan Poe.

Mike Flanagan, the mind behind recent Netflix horror limited series like The Haunting of Hill House (2018) and Midnight Mass (2021), is adapting Poe's spine-tingling 1839 short story "The Fall of the House of Usher" for the streamer.

The series reunites a huge cast of frequent Flanagan collaborators including Carla Gugino and Henry Thomas, and invites a few new faces to the party like Mark Hamill.

Flanagan, who directs four of the series' eight episodes, is nearing the end of his time with Netflix before starting a new deal with Amazon Studios. That means The Fall of the House of Usher is his last hurrah at Netflix and it seems like it might be a party to remember.

Here's everything we know about The Fall of the House of Usher, including the release date, its stellar cast, and our first look at the series.

The Fall of the House of Usher release date

The Fall of the House of Usher will premiere October 12 on Netflix. It arrives a year after Flanagan's last series for Netflix, the YA thriller The Midnight Club. The series is part of Flanagan's beloved lineup of series, all released around Halloween, including The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass. All of them are available to stream on Netflix.

How many episodes will The Fall of the House of Usher be?

Flanagan's previous three miniseries consisted of nine (Bly Manor), seven (Midnight Mass), and 10 episodes (The Midnight Club), and he hits a new number with The Fall of the House of Usher, which will be eight episodes long. 

The Fall of the House of Usher teaser and first look

To tease the arrival of the limited series, Netflix dropped a first look on Aug. 10, featuring glimpses of the gothic sets and intriguing aesthetics.

Among the first looks are photos of the cast in various forms of distress and concern, anchored by Gugino's mysterious character, who can be seen stylishly dressed in all black like a high-fashion looming specter. Siegel sports a gray hairdo and a look of confusion in one photo, while Sloyan appears to be terrified and standing on a bed in a darkened room brandishing a fire poker. And she doesn't look like she is using it to stoke the fire but rather fight for her life.

But perhaps the most dire photo is of Kohli having a day as he screams with a bloody cut on his face.

Along with the first look photos, Netflix released a short 15-second social media teaser that features blink-and-you'll-miss-it footage of a tormented Greenwood. It also leans heavily on Poe's famous "Nevermore" line from "The Raven," and Gugino's Verna even holds up a raven's mask. Is Flanagan blending some of Poe's works for his series? It certainly seems like it, as Netflix's Tudum revealed Verna's origins can be traced back to a "very famous Poe character."

The Fall of the House of Usher cast

Like Ryan Murphy and the American Horror Story universe over on FX, Mike Flanagan has built himself an impressive repertoire of actors that return for The Fall of the House of Usher.

The series follows ruthless siblings Roderick (Bruce Greenwood, who starred in Flanagan's Gerald's Game) and Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell), who have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege, and power. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth.

That mysterious woman is actually a demonic shapeshifter named Verna and is played by none other than Carla Gugino, who has been a mainstay in Flanagan's projects including The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, as well as his film Gerald's Game. In an article for Netflix's Tudum, Gugino had some intriguing things to say about the series: "It's batshit crazy in the best possible way. It has quite a lot of very dark humor, but also really touches the soul. There is a fantastical supernatural element to the story, and she is the manifestation of that. You could say she's the executor of fate or the executor of karma."

Among the other Flanagan favorites appearing in the series are Kate Siegel (Flanagan's wife and frequent collaborator), Annabeth Gish, Henry Thomas, Kyleigh Curran, Samantha Sloyan, Rahul Kohli, Michael Trucco, T'Nia Miller, Carl Lumbly, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Igby Rigney, Ruth Codd, and Robert Longstreet.

As previously mentioned, Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, will pop up in the series as well.

How to watch The Fall of the House of Usher

The House of the House of Usher will premiere October 12 on Netflix. All four of Mike Flanagan's previous series for Netflix – The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Midnight Club – are all available to stream now as well.