Mike Flanagan brings back several of his favorite actors for his new Netflix series “The Fall of the House of Usher,” including wife Kate Siegel, Carla Gugino, Bruce Greenwood and Henry Thomas. You’ll also recognize several cast members from the canceled-too-soon “Midnight Club” and a few from the film “Doctor Sleep” and the limited series “Midnight Mass.”
And you might need help keeping track of who’s who within the Usher family, headed up by Roderick and Madeleine Usher. Flanagan drew on various Edgar Allan Poe writings for this macabre tale, including the title story, as well as “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Raven” and “The Pit and the Pendulum.”
Here’s a complete “Fall of the House of Usher” cast and character guide.
Bruce Greenwood as Roderick Usher
Roderick Usher is a wealthy pharmaceutical patriarch who proudly welcomes all his children by different mothers. The skeletons are coming out of his closet as he faces his final reckoning for a life badly lived.
Greenwood, who previously starred in Flanagan’s Netflix film “Gerald’s Game,” was cast in the lead role after the original Roderick Usher, Frank Langella, was fired due to inappropriate behavior on set.
Carla Gugino as Verna
The name Verna, is, of course, an anagram of “raven,” Poe’s famous bird. She’s a mysterious woman who appears to each member of the Usher family in turns, and when she shows up, it’s never good news.
Gugino co-starred in Flanagan’s “Gerald’s Game” opposite Bruce Greenwood and also appeared in his previous literary Netflix adaptations “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor.” You also know her from “Sin City” and “Watchmen.”
Mary McDonnell as Madeline Usher
Madeline is Roderick’s even more ambitious sister, one who seems to have no scruples whatsoever in her quest for success. They’re both trying to make up for a bitter childhood with a father who never acknowledged them and a religion-obsessed, bedridden mother. Not that that excuses what she does.
This is the first time she’s working with Flanagan. Her many films include “Dances With Wolves,” “Independence Day” and “Donnie Darko” and the TV series “Battlestar Galactica” and “Major Crimes.”
(Eike Schroter/Netflix)
Kate Siegel as Camille L’Espanaye
Camille is the family’s crisis PR agent who has her hands full with her father on trial and siblings falling prey to various accidents. She demands a lot from her assistants, Tina (Aya Furukawa) and Toby (Igby Rigney) including regular menages a trois. The character’s name comes from “Murders in the Rue Morgue.”
Siegel has been in nearly all of Flanagan’s films and TV shows. In “The Haunting of Hill House,” she played psychic Theo and she was also the deaf star of his thriller “Hush.”
Aya Furukawa plays Tina and Igby Rigney plays Toby. They were both cast as main characters in “The Midnight Club.”
Henry Thomas as Frederick Usher
Thomas, who’s been a regular in Flanagan projects, including “Hill House” and “Bly Manor,” plays the presumptive heir to the Usher empire. Frederick is married to Morrie (Crystal Balint), with whom he shares daughter Lenore (Kyliegh Curran).
The actor’s most famous role is that of Elliott in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
Samantha Sloyan as Tamerlane Usher
Tamerlane, like Frederick, is Roderick’s child with first wife Annabel Lee (Katie Parker). She runs her own health and fitness brand with husband Bill (Matt Biedel) and hates her dad’s new, younger wife, Juno (Ruth Codd). The character’s name is inspired by the 1827 Poe poem “Tamerlane.”
Sloyan’s roles in previous Flanagan projects include dog-poisoning Bev Keane in “Midnight Mass” and Shasta in “The Midnight Club.”
She also played Dr. Penelope Blake on “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Rahul Kohli as Napoleon “Leo” Usher
Leo, like the rest of the Usher children, has branched out into his own business, thanks to Roderick’s money. He’s a world famous video game designer who is in a semi-secret relationship with a man named Julius (Daniel Jun). The name Napoleon comes from Poe’s comedic short story “The Spectacles.”
Kohli played Owen Sharma in “Bly Manor,” Sheriff Hassan in “Midnight Mass” and Vincent Beggs in “The Midnight Club.” He also co-starred on “iZombie” as Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti.
T’Nia Miller as Victorine “Vic” Lafourcade
Victorine (named after a character in “The Premature Burial”) is a scientist who has sparked gruesome rumors with her experiments on chimps. She works with her more skeptical partner, Dr. Allessandra Ruiz (Paola Núñez).
Miller played housekeeper Hannah Grose in “Bly Manor” and has recurring roles on the Apple TV+ sci-fi scries “Foundation” and Netflix’s “The Diplomat.”
Sauriyan Sapkota as Prospero “Perry” Usher
The youngest of Roderick’s children, Prospero wants to open a decadent night club with his cash dispensation from Dad. The character shares a name with the haughty Prince Prospero in “The Masque of the Red Death.” The actor also played Amesh on “The Midnight Club.”
Kyliegh Curran as Lenore Usher
Lenore (whose name is taken from one of Poe’s most famous poems), is the daughter of Frederick and Morrie Usher. Curran previously starred as Abra Stone, a girl who could “shine” in Flanagan’s feature film “Doctor Sleep.”
Mark Hamill as Arthur Pym
The “Star Wars” actor plays the Usher family’s shady lawyer and fixer, who will go to any lengths to protect them. The character’s name comes from “The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket,” Poe’s only complete novel. In the book, Pym stows away on a ship and survives a shipwreck, mutiny and cannibalism.
Carl Lumbly as C. Auguste Dupin
Dupin was once friends with Roderick and Madeline and now seeks to bring them to justice for misrepresenting their company’s dangerously addictive drug. In “Doctor Sleep,” Lumbly was cast as the younger version of Dick Hallorann, the character played by Scatman Crothers in Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”
Ruth Codd as Juno Usher
“The Midnight Club” fans will remember Codd as the bitter but beloved Anya. In this new series, she plays Roderick’s young new wife who’s also the poster child for the company’s controversial miracle drug.
Annabeth Gish as Eliza Usher
Eliza (who shares a name with Poe’s own mother), is the strangely obsessive matriarch to Roderick and Madeline who refuses all medical treatment even as she lays dying. Gish was also in “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor.”
Zach Gilford as Young Roderick Usher
Gilford, who played Riley Flynn in “Midnight Mass” and nurse Mark in “The Midnight Club,” is best known for his roles on “Sports Night” and for playing Taylor Swift’s love interest in the 2011 music video “Ours.” In “House of Usher,” Roderick is still low man on the corporate ladder, but he and Madeline have a plan to change that.
Willa Fitzgerald as Young Madeline Usher
Even more amoral than Roderick, Madeline helps shape the terrible destiny of the entire Usher clan. The actress who plays her is known for her role as Emma Duval on MTV’s “Scream” series and Roscoe Conklin on the Prime Video series “Reacher.”
Michael Trucco as Rufus Griswold
The “Battlestar Galactica” star plays Young Roderick’s unscrupulous boss. The real Rufus Wilmot Griswold was Poe’s literary rival and romantic rival as both writers were enamored of poet Frances Sargent Osgood.
Malcolm Goodwin as Young Auguste Dupin
The actor, whose TV series include “Breakout Kings,” “iZombie” and “Reacher,” plays the younger, more idealistic Dupin, who later vows to take down the Ushers.
Katie Parker as Annabel Lee
Annabel Lee (whose name is taken from one of Poe’s most famous poems), is Roderick’s first wife and the mother of Roderick and Madeline. Parker has been in numerous Flanagan projects, including “Absentia,” “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Midnight Club.”
Matt Biedel as William “Bill” T. Wilson
The actor, who played Sturge in “Midnight Mass,” is cast here as the fitness guru husband of Tamerlane Usher (Samantha Sloyan). The character’s name is taken from a Poe story about a man who has a doppelganger.
Crystal Balint as Morelle “Morrie” Usher
Morelle (based on the Poe story “Morella”) is Frederick Usher’s wife and the mother of Lenore (Kyliegh Curran). Balint was last seen in “Midnight Mass” as Dolly Scarborough.
The cast also includes Paola Núñez as Dr Allessandra Ruiz, Daniel Jun as Julius, and Robert Longstreet as Longfellow.
