In 1980s England, American au pair Dani Clayton accepts a job caring for two orphaned children at Bly Manor, a sprawling country estate in the English countryside.
Miles and Flora Wingrave have recently lost their parents and are now under the care of their uncle, Henry, who wants little involvement in their daily lives. Dani joins a small household that includes housekeeper Hannah Grose, cook Owen Sharma, and gardener Jamie.
At first, Bly seems like an opportunity for Dani to leave her own troubled past behind. But the children behave strangely, figures appear where nobody should be standing, and the manor holds secrets connected to people who lived and died there long before Dani arrived.
As the history of Bly begins to emerge, the story expands beyond a traditional haunting. Ghosts remain trapped within the estate, memories repeat and fracture, and the distinction between the past and present becomes increasingly unstable.
Victoria Pedretti stars as Dani alongside Benjamin Evan Ainsworth as Miles, Amelie Bea Smith as Flora, T’Nia Miller as Hannah, Rahul Kohli as Owen, Amelia Eve as Jamie, and Henry Thomas as Henry Wingrave.
Created by Mike Flanagan, The Haunting of Bly Manor is the second story in The Haunting anthology. Drawing primarily from Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw, along with elements from several of his other works, the series combines supernatural horror with tragedy, romance, grief, and stories about people struggling to let go.
Why The Haunting of Bly Manor Is on Love of Gothic
The Haunting of Bly Manor is firmly rooted in gothic romance and ghost stories. An isolated English manor, orphaned children, a governess, family secrets, tragic deaths, apparitions, and a history that continues to shape the present are all central to its story.
The series also explores grief, memory, possession, doomed relationships, and the inability of both the living and the dead to let go of the people they love. Bly itself becomes a place where old tragedies continue repeating long after the people involved have died.
Its combination of gothic romance, supernatural horror, haunted-house traditions, and themes of love, death, and memory gives The Haunting of Bly Manor a clear place on Love of Gothic.