This new Netflix show is being called a horror-themed version of ‘Succession’

New Netflix show The Fall Of The House Of Usher has proved a hit with critics so far, with many describing it as a horror-version of hit HBO show, Succession.

The series is the next project from Mike Flanagan, who created Netflix’s The Haunting Of Hill House, The Haunting Of Bly Manor and this year’s Midnight Mass.

The eight-episode series follows the gloomy downfall of pharmaceutical kingpin Roderick Usher (played by Bruce Greenwood) and his rich family who are often at loggerheads – much like the cast of Succession.

Describing the show on X/Twitter last year, Flanagan wrote: “This miniseries is a modern remix of some of the most iconic works of Edgar Allan Poe. To tell this epic tale of greed, horror, and tragedy, we have assembled the largest ensemble cast in the history of Intrepid Pictures.”

The series, which premieres on Netflix on October 12, has been certified ‘fresh’ by Rotten Tomatoes, scoring a huge 92% positive score so far.

“The Fall of the House of Usher is Mike Flanagan’s most ambitious horror story yet,” said The Verge, while Entertainment Weekly described it as “Succession meets Edgar Allan Poe fan fiction.”

Vanity Fair added: “House Of Usher is a heavy show, stuffed to the gills with morbid humour and gloomy pathos, political allusions jumbled together with myriad pop culture references. The series is, in its eight-episode run, sometimes an exhausting sit. Yet it’s engrossing throughout, shifting from the gothic to the baroque as miserable punishment befalls each Usher—one by bloody one.”

Comparing it to Flanagan’s other work, Metro said: “Where Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass danced with the idea of drama while honing in on their more horrific stylings, and The Midnight Club and Haunting Of Bly Manor subverted this in favour of theatrics, Fall Of The House Of Usher masters both in an intensely gripping show that oozes intrigue.”

Comicbook meanwhile said the work “can’t compare with Flanagan’s previous” but added that there were still “great grand…joys” to take away from the work.”

Empire magazine thought the show was “no reverent Poe adaptation”, saying it was “instead, it’s more an interpretation of his themes of selfishness and regret, used as the foundation for an entirely invented story.”

The show features an extensive cast that includes Mark Hamill, Willa Fitzgerald, and Mary McDonnell alongside Bruce Greenwood, Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas, Zach Gilford, Carl Lumbly, Samantha Sloyan, T’Niah Miller, Rahul Kohli, Michael Trucco, Annabeth Gish, Robert Longstreet, and Katie Parker.

Hamill (Star Wars) will play “a character surprisingly at home in the shadows,” while McDonnell (Battlestar Galactica) takes on the role of Madeline Usher, Roderick’s twin sister. Carl Lumbly (Doctor Sleep) is set to play Poe’s investigator C. Auguste Dupin.

The show will premiere on Netflix from Thursday 12 October.

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