“The Midnight Club” holds a Guinness World Record for the most scripted jump scares in a single TV episode, and it’s the one Mike Flanagan Netflix series that he never got to finish.
Co-created by Flanagan and writer Leah Fong, “The Midnight Club,” which is based on Christopher Pike’s 1994 novel of the same name, tells the story of eight terminally ill teenagers, all staying at the Brightcliffe Hospice. They gather every night to share scary stories and make a pact that the first to die will attempt to contact the others from the afterlife. However, they soon discover that Brightcliffe has its own mysterious history.
Unlike previous Flanagan Netflix series, “The Midnight Club” was his first intended multi-season project for Netflix. Its genuine take on mortality and story-within-a-story structure won over critics, earning it an 85% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. But that enthusiasm didn’t carry over to the audience, who gave it just 55% on the Popcornmeter. “The Midnight Club” dropped off Netflix’s Top 10 list by week four, and Netflix canceled it soon after. So why did audiences sour on a show critics enjoyed? It comes down to the series’ unusual genre mix and an unresolved ending, but neither is a reason to skip this underrated gem.
Mike Flanagan revealed how The Midnight Club would have ended
Although the larger storyline of “The Midnight Club” is based on the book, Mike Flanagan folded some of Pike’s other stories into different episodes, resulting in a blending of multiple genres from sci-fi to black-and-white noir. For anyone who struggled with the genre-hopping, the abrupt cancellation and cliffhanger ending didn’t do this show’s reception any favors. Fortunately, for anyone discovering “The Midnight Club” now, that cliffhanger isn’t quite how the story ends.
Previously, Flanagan told fans that if “The Midnight Club” was not renewed, he would still reveal how the story unfolds. In December 2022, he fulfilled his promise by spilling “Midnight Club” Season 2 secrets in a detailed post on Tumblr, calling it the show’s “official second season.” The season would have ended with Cheri (Adia) sharing her story with a new group of patients, keeping the original club’s legacy alive through their tales. “Because this is how we live on, isn’t it? In the minds of those we leave behind,” he wrote.
That kind of closure is rare for a canceled series. Considering how quickly Netflix pulled the plug, “The Midnight Club” looks less like a misfire and more like a show that never got a fair shot.
