A Second 'Haunting Of Hill House' Star Is Confirmed To Return For 'Bly Manor'

Although the second season of The Haunting of Hill House will be telling an entirely new ghost story, it will look pretty similar to the debut season. That is because the first two confirmed cast members in the new season also starred in Season 1. The Haunting of Hill House Season 2 is bringing back Oliver Jackson-Cohen, TheWrap has confirmed, which continues the anthology series' trend of recasting its Season 1 stars in new roles for Season 2.

Oliver Jackson-Cohen starred in the first season of The Haunting of Hill House as the drug addicted youngest son of the Crain family, Luke Crain. The new season will leave the Crain family and Hill House behind and instead be entitled The Haunting of Bly Manor, reinterpreting the famous 19th century horror novella The Turn of the Screw. Oliver Jackson-Cohen will be playing a role known only as Peter this time around, described cryptically as being "a charming fellow." There is a character named Peter in the original The Turn of the Screw story, so it looks like Jackson-Cohen will be playing Peter Quint, who is a former employee at Bly Manor who had a sexual relationship with the former governess Miss Jessel. In the story, both Peter Quint and Miss Jessel have died by the time a new governess takes up her job at Bly Manor, and the two former employees haunt the manor as ghosts.

The casting announcement marks the second confirmed cast member for The Haunting of Bly Manor. A couple of weeks earlier, Netflix confirmed that Victoria Pedretti will be returning for the new season of the Haunting series, playing the central governess in the Bly Manor story. Like Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Pedretti also starred in Hill House as the youngest Crain daughter Nell Crain. With both of these castings, it seems pretty clear that the Haunting anthology series will follow a similar model to FX's American Horror Story series by recasting its core actors in new roles for each new season. Hill House star Carla Gugino (who played matriarch Olivia Crain) has also recently hinted that she may take on a new part in Bly Manor.

Victoria Pedretti and Oliver Jackson-Cohen are confirmed for two of the major roles from the original The Turn of the Screw story, leaving only a few more characters from the 1898 novella up for grabs. The story centers on the new governess, who will be played by Pedretti, hired to look after a young boy and girl in Bly Manor named Miles and Flora. The children's uncle charged with their care is largely absent from the story, and they are instead watched over by the housekeeper Mrs. Grose prior to the governess' arrival. The governess also begins to notice the ghosts of former Bly Manor employees Miss Jessel and Peter Quint (played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen) in the house.

Since Haunting of Hill House did include a cast of child stars, it is possible that two of the young actors may return to play Miles and Flora. The roles of the uncle, Mrs. Grose, and Miss Jessel are also open, and it stands to reason that The Haunting of Bly Manor will likely expand on the original story to include more characters as well.

The Haunting of Bly Manor is slated to be released on Netflix sometime in 2020.