‘The Midnight Club’ Creator Mike Flanagan Explains How It Would Have Ended
Netflix decided not to renew Mike Flanagan’s series The Midnight Club even though the show ended with some major cliffhangers. Thankfully, Flanagan delivered on his promise to let audiences know how he wanted to wrap up the stories of characters like Illonka, Amesh, and the rest of the gang at Brightcliffe Hospice. Here’s what he planned.
Amesh, Illonka, Natsuki and Kevin would die in ‘The Midnight Club’ Season 2
We knew from the very beginning that was no hope of seeing the kids in The Midnight Club make it out alive. Their stories revolve around their terminal illnesses. Flanagan said when season 2 began, audiences would see Amesh’s glioblastoma quickly progressing as he struggles to get through his story.
“He would tell the first story of the season, but would be struggling to make it through. We’d focus on his love story with Natsuki for those first few episodes as it becomes clear that Amesh’s death is imminent,” Flanagan writes in a Tumblr post.
In his final moments, the janitor, played by Robert Longstreet, would try to comfort him even though Amesh can’t respond. However, he helps Amesh with his kind words. Flanagan also says viewers would see the shadow again, “reinforcing the idea that the shadow is death.”
Flanagan planned for Illonka to fall more in love with Kevin while also realizing his disease is progressing faster than he wants anyone to know. Natsuki dies next, but she also sees the janitor before she passes. Kevin dies with Ilonka by his side, and finally, Illonka dies. However, as she dies, she sees the janitor once again, and we get the big reveal. The shadow is not death, the janitor is. Only the patients ever saw him in their final moments, and we learn that Dr. Stanton never hired him. He shows up in the kids’ dying moments to help them understand and not be scared of what’s next.
Which of Christopher Pike’s books did Mike Flanagan want to use in ‘The Midnight Club’ Season 2?
Flanagan based The Midnight Club on author Christopher Pike’s novel from the 90s. However, he cleverly wove in other tales by Pike as the stories the teens at Brightcliffe Hospice told one another. When we spoke to Flanagan at New York Comic Con in October, he told us he had ideas about which books he wanted to use if Netflix picked up The Midnight Club for another season.
In his Tumblr post, Flanagan said he planned on using Remember Me as the overarching story Illonka tells in season 2. The story follows a murdered girl navigating her new life as a ghost as she tries to solve her own murder. However, in Ilonka’s story, Anya (Ruth Codd) would play the main character. Flanagan explained this was a way to bring back beloved characters even if they had already died.
He also planned for Cheri to finally tell a story in The Midnight Club Season 2, something we never saw in the first season. Flanagan believes he would’ve gone with Monster for Cheri’s tale – the story of a town of teenagers transforming into cannibalistic monsters.
Spencer survives
Much like Sandra in season 1, Spencer’s journey in season 2 would’ve seen the advancement in medicine for HIV. Flanagan writes, “Spence would ride the swell of antiviral advancements, and by the end of the season, he’d no longer be classified as terminal. In the finale of season 2, Spence would leave Brightcliffe just like Sandra did in Season 1, heading off to manage his disease and live the rest of his life.”
What was Dr. Stanton’s connection to the Paragon cult?
One of the final scenes in The Midnight Club shows Dr. Stanton removing a wig to reveal her bald head and the tattoo of the symbol for the Paragon cult. As many suspected, Flanagan’s plan for Dr. Stanton involved revealing she was the daughter of Aceso. She turned against her mother and helped the children escape from the cult when she was younger. As an adult, she reclaimed the land where her mother founded the cult and turned it into a place that celebrated life. Flanagan also noted that Dr. Stanton’s bald head was due to her having cancer, creating a complex dynamic between herself and the terminally ill teens at Brightcliffe.
Who were the Mirror Man and the Cataract Woman in ‘The Midnight Club’ Season 1?
Possibly the biggest cliffhanger from The Midnight Club Season 1 revolved around the creepy old people Ilonka saw throughout the halls and in the mirrors. Flanagan explains they were the original builders of Brightcliffe. Plus, in a sweet twist, they were also previous versions of Kevin and Ilonka.
“Ilonka WAS Stanley Oscar Freelan, and Kevin WAS his wife. They’ve lived many lives this way, and are true SOUL MATES – they always find each other, and they always fall in love. In this life, they knew it would be a short one, so they agreed to find each other in the house they built,” Flanagan writes.
As sad as we are not to get another season of The Midnight Club, we’re forever grateful for the answers to what might have been. Stream The Midnight Club exclusively on Netflix.
