Mike Flanagan (filmmaker)

Mike Flanagan (born May 20, 1978) is an American filmmaker, best known for his horror work. Flanagan wrote, directed, produced, and edited the films Absentia (2011), Oculus (2013), Hush, Before I Wake, Ouija: Origin of Evil (all 2016), Gerald's Game (2017), Doctor Sleep (2019), and The Life of Chuck (2024). He created, wrote, produced, and served as showrunner on the Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House (2018), The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020), Midnight Mass (2021), The Midnight Club (2022), and The Fall of the House of Usher (2023).

BornMay 20, 1978 (age 47)

Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.

Occupations

Film director
editor
screenwriter
producer

Yearsactive2000–present

Spouse

Kate Siegel

(m. 2016)

Quick facts Born, Occupations ...

Mike Flanagan
Flanagan at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	(1978-05-20) May 20, 1978 (age 47) Salem, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupations	Film director editor screenwriter producer
Years active	2000–present
Spouse	Kate Siegel (m. 2016)
Children	3
Website	mikeflanaganfilm.com

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Flanagan often works with the same cast and crew members. His most frequent collaborators include his wife, actress Kate Siegel, who has been featured in most of his works since Oculus and co-wrote the screenplay of Hush. Other frequent collaborators include Samantha Sloyan, Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Karen Gillan, Bruce Greenwood, Michael Trucco, Annalise Basso, Henry Thomas, Stephen King and Mark Hamill.

Early life

Mike Flanagan was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on May 20, 1978, from parents Timothy and Laura Flanagan.^[1]^[2]^[3] He has a younger sibling, Jamie.^[4]^[5] Their family moved around often due to his father's job in the U.S. Coast Guard, at one point living on Governors Island.^[6] Although they only briefly lived in Salem, it left an impression on Mike, and he retained an interest in both the Salem witch trials and associated topics such as ghost stories and horror fiction.^[2]

He later lived in Maryland, where he was a student at Archbishop Spalding High School, becoming involved in the drama department and the president of the school's Student Government Association, before attending Towson University.^[2] He graduated with a BA, majoring in Electronic Media & Film and minoring in Theater.^[3]^[7]

Growing up, Flanagan made amateur short films with his family's video camera.^[3] He was a fan of Stephen King, whose work he would later adapt to the screen, reading It in fifth grade, which he claimed "absolutely traumatized me", and Gerald's Game, which he would later adapt, in college.^[3] He described himself growing up as "a very scared kid" who "couldn’t watch horror movies at all."^[3]

Career

2000s–2010s

Flanagan's student films were more oriented toward melodrama. He later characterized them as "unfit for public consumption" but called them "incredible learning experiences".^[2] After graduating, he directed Ghosts of Hamilton Street (2003), filmed in Maryland with local actors,^[8] including Scott Graham, whom Flanagan met at Towson. Graham would go on to star in Flanagan's 2006 short film, Oculus: Chapter 3 – The Man with the Plan, which he made for $1,500.^[7]

Flanagan originally intended for the Oculus story to be told in a series of short films, but he could not find the financing. Instead, he shot the chapter that included a back story and used that to demonstrate that he could direct a horror film. The short proved popular at film festivals, and producers were interested in developing the concept. However, they either wanted to shoot it as a found footage film or rejected Flanagan's stipulation that he direct the feature-length adaptation. Flanagan directed Absentia (2011), which was financed through a Kickstarter campaign, in response to this rejection.^[2] Made for $70,000 and filmed in his Glendale, California, apartment, Absentia was released direct-to-video but gained popularity when Netflix offered it on its streaming service.^[9] After its surprise success, Flanagan continued to shop Oculus around. Intrepid Pictures took an interest in the concept and agreed to let Flanagan direct. The feature version of Oculus was filmed in 2012 and released theatrically by Relativity Media in 2014.^[10]

Flanagan shot his next film, Before I Wake, in 2013. It was acquired by Relativity Media in 2014 and was originally scheduled for release on May 8, 2015, but was pushed back to September 25, 2015, and later pulled from the schedule entirely when the company filed for bankruptcy. After a year in bankruptcy court, Relativity announced that Before I Wake would be released on April 8, 2016, but missed that date as the company struggled to get back on its feet.^[11] The film was then scheduled for September 9, 2016, but Relativity once again pulled the film three weeks ahead of this date, prompting a public argument between Flanagan and Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh on Twitter; Kavanaugh claimed September 9 was a "bad date" while Flanagan suggested that Relativity was financially unable to release the film.^[12] Relativity never released the film as Kavanaugh sold the company to Singaporean social network YuuZoo in October 2016,^[13] with Netflix eventually acquiring the rights to the film and releasing it in January 2018.^[14]

Flanagan wrote and directed Ouija: Origin of Evil, which starred Elizabeth Reaser, Henry Thomas, and Annalise Basso.^[15] Production began in September 2015, and the film was released in October 2016, grossing over $81 million worldwide.^[16] Around the same time, it was revealed that Flanagan had been working on a "secret project" called Hush. Written in 2014 and filmed in March 2015, the project was kept confidential until a screening at the Toronto Film Festival.^[17] Written by Flanagan and lead actress Kate Siegel, and also starring John Gallagher Jr., Michael Trucco, and Samantha Sloyan, the film had its world premiere at SXSW in March 2016 and was released exclusively on Netflix on April 8, 2016 to positive reviews. In 2017 Flanagan directed, wrote, and edited the psychological horror film Gerald's Game, based on the 1992 novel of the same title by Stephen King. The film was released on Netflix on September 29, 2017 to critical acclaim.^[18] King called the film "hypnotic, horrifying and terrific" after watching the rough cut.^[19]

In 2018, Flanagan created, wrote, directed, produced, and edited the Netflix supernatural horror series The Haunting of Hill House, based on Shirley Jackson's novel of the same name.^[20] In 2019, Flanagan wrote and directed the horror film Doctor Sleep, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King, itself the sequel to his previous novel The Shining. Ewan McGregor stars as the older version of Danny Torrance in the film, which was released in November.^[21]^[22] In February 2019, The Haunting of Hill House was renewed for a stand-alone second season, titled The Haunting of Bly Manor, based on the novel The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.^[23] It premiered in 2020.^[24] Around the same time, it was also announced that Flanagan had signed an exclusive overall deal with Netflix to produce television content.^[25]

In July 2019, as part of that overall deal, Netflix ordered Flanagan's original horror series Midnight Mass.^[26] Flanagan wrote, directed and served as showrunner on the seven-episode series, which was released in September 2021 to critical acclaim after a production delay in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.^[27]

2020s–present

In May 2020, it was announced that Flanagan would adapt numerous novels by Christopher Pike into a new series, titled The Midnight Club, for Netflix. Flanagan co-created the series and serves as executive producer and showrunner.^[28]

In October 2021, it was announced that Flanagan would create The Fall of the House of Usher, an eight-episode limited series for Netflix based on the short story of the same name and other works by Edgar Allan Poe. Flanagan directed four episodes of the series, with the other four helmed by his longtime cinematographer Michael Fimognari.^[29]

In May 2023, it was announced that Flanagan would adapt King's drama novella The Life of Chuck from the short story collection If It Bleeds into a feature film starring Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill.^[30] The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6, 2024, where it won the People's Choice Award.

In May 2024, Flanagan launched his own company, Red Room Pictures.^[31] In July 2024, Flanagan was confirmed to write a segment for V/H/S/Beyond, which was released exclusively on Shudder on October 4, 2024.^[32]^[33]

In March 2026, it was announced that Flanagan struck a new multi-year overall exclusive deal with Amazon MGM Studios for television.^[34]

Upcoming projects

In December 2022, Flanagan signed a first-look overall TV deal with Amazon Studios.^[35] Flanagan also owns the television rights to The Dark Tower, a series of fantasy novels written by Stephen King.^[36]

By May 2024, Flanagan was in talks to direct the next film in The Exorcist franchise.^[37] Later that month, Flanagan was confirmed to be directing a new Exorcist film as a reboot with plans for a new trilogy being scrapped following the reception of The Exorcist: Believer.^[38] The film was scheduled for release on March 13, 2026,^[39] but Flanagan revealed in a Tumblr post that the film was not going to begin production until after he finished work on the miniseries adaptation of Carrie and that there was "no way it's coming out next March."^[40] The film, starring Scarlett Johansson, is set for release on March 12, 2027.^[41]

In October 2024, Flanagan announced he was developing a television series adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie for Amazon MGM Studios.^[42]^[43]

In December 2024, Flanagan was attached to a film based on the DC Comics character Clayface, a project he had initially pitched to DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran in March 2023.^[44] He is set to write the project while the studio searched for a director amidst his ongoing commitments to The Exorcist reboot and the Carrie series.^[45] Clayface was greenlit that month as a film set in Gunn and Safran's DC Universe (DCU) franchise, with the pair producing alongside The Batman (2022) director Matt Reeves and Lynn Harris from Reeves' studio 6th & Idaho Productions, scheduled for release on September 11, 2026.^[46] By February 21, 2025, James Watkins was chosen to direct the film.^[47] In May 2025, it was announced that Hossein Amini had been hired to rewrite the script and that Flanagan was no longer involved in the project and said he expected Watkins to "make it [his] own", but he hoped the film would remain true to the spirit of what he originally wanted it to be.^[48]^[49]

In February 2026, it was announced that Flanagan would write and direct a new film adaption of The Mist for Warner Bros. Pictures.^[50] In March 2026, he signed an overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios for television.^[51]

Influences

Flanagan's favorite films are Casablanca and Jaws, although he considers the films that influenced him the most to be The Haunting, The Changeling, The Shining and The Exorcist; The Haunting was notably based on the same novel as Flanagan's series The Haunting of Hill House, while he would direct Doctor Sleep, a direct sequel to The Shining.^[3]

Flanagan spent years studying various religions, later describing Midnight Mass as a passion project that was "deeply personal" and dealt intimately with his Catholic upbringing and his eventual atheism, as well as his sobriety.^[52]

A lifelong fan of Stephen King, who would go on to strongly praise Flanagan's work, Flanagan finds King "extraordinarily difficult to adapt": "His attention to character development, to humanity, and to narrative structure are some of his most defining traits, and those are very difficult to translate into a medium that tends to jettison those kinds of nuances in favor of shock, blood, and scares. Too many of his adaptations stray too far from what makes his work so special, and they suffer for it. But at the heart of his work is a conversation about the human condition, about flawed people in extraordinary situations, and about the darker corners of our nature."^[3] Speaking of his first King adaptation, the 2017 film Gerald's Game, whose original novel had long been thought to be unfilmable, he said: "I would joke that it's the only one of his works that could never, ever be made into a movie. And I spent the next half of my life thinking about ways to adapt it."^[53]^[3] After King sent him an email praising the film, Flanagan printed it and framed it on his office wall.^[3]

In a 2019 interview, when asked "if a studio came to you tomorrow and said, 'You can pick any book in the world to make a film out of and we'll give you an unlimited budget,' what book would you choose?", Flanagan picked King's The Dark Tower series, stating "I dreamed of spending a decade making those films". He mentioned Dan Simmons' Hyperion, Robert R. McCammon's Boy's Life and King's The Stand as other candidates.^[3]

Recognition

Flanagan's work has attracted praise from figures such as William Friedkin, Stephen King, and Quentin Tarantino for his directing style and lack of reliance on jump scares.^[54]^[55]^[56]^[57]^[58] Paradoxically, the first episode of his series The Midnight Club (2022) set a new Guinness World Record for the most jump scares in a single episode of television with 21.^[59] However, Flanagan stated that this jump-scare sequence was in direct response to studio notes requesting more jump scares, and he designed this 21-scare scene so that the "jump scare(s) would be rendered meaningless."^[60]

In 2025, Flanagan was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a member.^[61]

Personal life

In February 2016, Flanagan married actress and frequent collaborator Kate Siegel, with whom he has a son and a daughter.^[62]^[63]^[64] Flanagan was formerly in a relationship with actress Courtney Bell, who starred in his film Absentia, and with whom he has a son.^[63] His younger sibling, Jamie, has worked as a screenwriter, producer and actor on several of Mike's series.^[4]^[5] As of October 2025, Flanagan is 7 years sober.^[65]