Midnight Mass: a viewer's companion

Quick reference

Who's who

The seven episodes

Each episode is named after a book of the Bible, in the Bible's own order, and each contains a scene tied to that book. Wikipedia, SYFY Wire

Where it came from

• Flanagan was an altar boy for about 12 years. He served first on Governors Island in New York Harbor, where his father was stationed with the Coast Guard, and later in Bowie, Maryland, where he went to Catholic schools. Bloody Disgusting (Flanagan's own essay)
• The church on the island is modeled on his childhood parish. SYFY Wire
• He says his own priests were good men and the abuse scandals never touched his parish. That is one reason the show avoids the "evil priest" cliché and makes Father Paul a well-meaning man who does terrible things. Bloody Disgusting
• Reading the Bible is what ended his faith. A college world-religions course made him realize he had never actually read it. Reading it as an adult shocked him, especially the violence in the Old Testament. He went on to study other religions and to read atheist and science writers such as Carl Sagan. Bloody Disgusting, Salt Lake Tribune
• The core idea came from Sunday school. As a kid he asked whether drinking Jesus's blood for eternal life was a bit vampire-like, and was told to stop asking. The whole show grew from one question: what if there were vampire blood in the communion wine? TheWrap, Fandom
• Riley is Flanagan. He has called Riley, the ex-altar boy turned atheist with a drinking problem, a thinly disguised version of himself. Bloody Disgusting, Television Academy
• Riley's crash was his worst fear. Flanagan got sober in 2018. He has said his biggest fear while drinking was never dying in a crash, but killing someone else and surviving, which is exactly how the show opens. Salt Lake Tribune
• He says he couldn't have made it earlier. It took about three years of sobriety before he felt ready. Looper
• It took about a decade to get made. It started around 2010 as a novel, became an unfinished film script, and was pitched as a TV series in 2014. Every buyer passed, including Netflix. The same Netflix executive who passed later approved it after The Haunting of Hill House became a hit in 2018. Bloody Disgusting, Wikipedia
• Siegel says Flanagan used Hill House as leverage. When Netflix wanted more Haunting seasons, he insisted they also greenlight Midnight Mass. TV Insider
• The "Midnight Mass" book in Hush was a placeholder. While the project sat on the shelf, he kept it alive as a prop: it's the bestselling novel written by Maddie in Hush (2016), and the same book is on the nightstand in Gerald's Game (2017). Wikipedia, Looper
• Stephen King is a big influence, and a fan. Flanagan had King's 'Salem's Lot (a 1975 novel about vampires gradually taking over a small Maine town) on his mind while writing. King praised the show on Twitter. Fangoria
• Jonestown shaped the Easter Vigil scene. Jonestown was the 1978 mass murder-suicide of more than 900 cult members in Guyana, who drank poisoned punch. Flanagan said a Jonestown-style Mass was baked into the story from the start, and that parents giving poison to their own children disturbed him most. Den of Geek
• It's his favorite of his own work. In a letter sent to critics with their review copies, he said it was his favorite project so far. Den of Geek

How it was made

• COVID shut it down after one day. Filming started March 15, 2020 and stopped the next day. Shooting restarted in August and ran until mid-December 2020 near Vancouver. Wikipedia, TV Insider
• The pandemic shaped the story. Netflix asked for fewer extras to avoid crowds, so the island's population was cut. The oil-spill backstory, which wrecked the town's fishing industry, partly explains why so few people live there. Looper
• The run-down look is real. The sets were built before the shutdown and left to weather for months, so the weeds and wear are genuine. TV Insider
• Crockett Island is based on a real place. It's modeled on Tangier, a small, slowly sinking island in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay. Many of the show's surnames come from Tangier's history, and the name Crockett comes from one of its early settlers. A shoot there was cancelled because a film crew would have damaged the island. Fangoria
• The town was built from scratch in two places. The waterfront was built at Garry Point Park in Richmond, BC, and the church and town square on a farm in Langley, BC. The church interior was a soundstage. Filmmaker Magazine
• The dead-cats scene is one continuous shot. The roughly seven-minute take that opens episode 2 was lit only with natural light. Filmmaker Magazine
• Riley's sunrise was a crane and a lamp. The rowboat scene in episode 5 was shot against bluescreen, with a big light on a crane playing the sun, timed to the actors' lines. A dummy in Gilford's clothes was used for the burning. Filmmaker Magazine, BuzzFeed
• Riley's death was shot almost first. It was filmed in the first days of production. Sources differ on whether it was day one or day two. TheWrap, BuzzFeed
• The church scenes used about 200 real candles, and hot wax dripped on the cast. SYFY Wire
• The Angel is mostly practical. Quinton Boisclair wore a full suit that took about four hours of makeup. Only the wings were digital, because the real ones were too heavy to puppeteer. TheWrap
• The creature design nods to Nosferatu. Its look winks at Klaus Kinski's vampire in Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Flanagan's favorite vampire film. He and Macy deliberately avoided the sexy or brooding vampire; he wanted it ugly. Den of Geek, Gizmodo
• Gilford and Linklater are old friends and neither knew the other had auditioned. BuzzFeed
• Flanagan appears twice. He's a man watching kids ride bikes in episode 1, and a young priest walking with Pruitt in Jerusalem at the start of episode 3. BuzzFeed
• Carla Gugino has a voice cameo. Olivia from Hill House voices the judge at Riley's parole hearing. Wikipedia
• Lots of familiar faces. Henry Thomas (young Hugh in Hill House), Annabeth Gish and Robert Longstreet (the Dudleys in Hill House), Samantha Sloyan (Leigh in Hill House) and Rahul Kohli (Owen in Bly Manor) all return in new roles. Netflix Tudum

The music

• The plan was mostly hymns. Flanagan originally wanted the show to rely on church hymns rather than a score. When he asked for score later, he turned down anything big, wanting it small and specific to a tiny island town. Headliner
• The hymns are sung plainly on purpose. Singers were asked for a humble, sincere sound rather than a polished choir. Andy Grush grew up Catholic and knew the hymns personally. Headliner
• One of the composers is on screen. Grush plays the church's musician, his first acting role. Rolling Stone
• It was recorded remotely during COVID, with hundreds of singers and musicians across three countries, mixing acoustic and electronic instruments. Fangoria
• Erin's last scene made Flanagan cry. For Erin's dying monologue he asked for a simple piano piece. The composers sent that plus a bigger version with brass and strings, and the bigger one went in. Flanagan replied with an email titled "Screw You Guys," saying it made him sob. Filmspeak
• The final hymn was in the script. Flanagan was listening to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir recording of "Nearer, My God, to Thee" while writing, and chose it because it balanced sadness and beauty better than other hymns about death. It's the hymn traditionally said to have been played as the Titanic sank. Fandom, Inverse
• An 8-minute instrumental version of that hymn plays under Riley's afterlife speech in episode 4 and the rowboat sunrise in episode 5. Tunefind
• There's a vinyl release. Waxwork Records (a label that specializes in horror soundtracks) put out a triple LP on 180-gram colored vinyl in June 2022, with the full score, all the hymns, and liner notes from Flanagan and the composers. Fangoria
• Pop songs. Neil Diamond's "Holly Holy" (1969) plays over a montage in episode 3, and Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" (1970) is also used. Wikipedia: Holly Holy, Tunefind
• Siegel prepared with Leonard Cohen. She said Cohen's "Come Healing" was a big part of her preparation for Erin's final monologue. Popverse

The characters, from the people who made them

Father Paul (Hamish Linklater)

• Linklater played him as an old mind thrilled to be in a young body, rather than moving stiffly. TheWrap
• He said Paul's real motive is personal: a second chance with Mildred, the woman he secretly loved and had a daughter with. In the end Paul seeks forgiveness from her rather than from God or the parish. TheWrap, AV Club
• He won Best Actor in a Horror Series at the 2022 Critics' Choice Super Awards. Wikipedia

Riley (Zach Gilford)

• Gilford guessed Riley would die because he only appeared in six of the seven scripts. He calls the death his favorite moment in the show. AV Club
• Riley was originally the hero. In Flanagan's early plan, Riley fought Father Paul and Erin died midway. He has also described a dropped Season 2 idea where Riley survives and returns as a villainous revival preacher. Empire
• Why Erin became the hero. Flanagan said the story shifted late from "Riley versus Father Paul" to "Erin versus Bev," because neither pure disbelief nor pure fanaticism should win. The moderate in the middle deserved to be the hero. TheWrap

Erin (Kate Siegel)

• Siegel said the show pulls a switch: it looks like a story about two men, then becomes a story about the women and the Muslim sheriff. TV Insider
• Siegel and Flanagan are both atheists, raised Catholic and culturally Jewish respectively, and she says their dinner-table arguments about faith fed into Erin. AwardsDaily
• Erin's last words, "I am that I am," are the name God gives Moses in Exodus. Siegel, raised Jewish, found the phrase intimidating to say. TheWrap
• The monologue is personal. Siegel and Flanagan have said Erin's speech about death is what they want their own children to hear from them when they die. Popverse

Bev (Samantha Sloyan)

• Flanagan calls Bev the real monster of the story, because people are scarier than creatures. Fandom
• Sloyan says Bev never accepts she was wrong, and that nothing scares her more than the possibility. That's why she ends up digging into the sand. AV Club
• When Flanagan later offered Sloyan the mother in Carrie, she asked how it could be different from Bev. He told her it was a completely different woman. Backstage

Sheriff Hassan (Rahul Kohli)

• Kohli, a British atheist of Indian descent, called it his hardest role: he isn't Muslim, American, a father or forty. His Moroccan Muslim best friend advised him. Filmspeak
• He described the character as a mix of the classic American sheriff hero and the "bearded brown man" Hollywood has cast as a villain since 9/11. Variety
• Linklater said Hassan's story holds the show's real horror: a son rejecting his father's faith. Vulture interview

What critics and religious writers argue about

• Is it anti-Catholic? Terrance Klein, a Catholic priest of 37 years writing in America (a magazine published by the Jesuits, a Catholic order), says no. He finds Father Paul's sin understandable, says the show gets the nature of sin right, and names Bev as the real villain: a zealot who judges others and never herself. He says Flanagan is "more Catholic than he knows." America
• The same priest's objection. Klein says the show offers three answers to what happens when we die: Riley's (it's just brain chemistry), Erin's in episode 4 (a heaven where loved ones are reunited), and Erin's last one (the self dissolves back into the universe). He reads the last as Flanagan's own view and argues it can't explain why anyone in the show bothers to fight evil or repent. America
• Why nobody uses religion against the vampire. Steven Greydanus, a Catholic film critic, points out that no one, not even the believers, ever treats the creature as evil in religious terms. In Dracula, crosses and holy water work; here they don't, and Dr. Gunning treats it like a virus. Decent Films
• Greydanus on Erin's ending. He calls her final speech the show's biggest mistake, because it contradicts the comfort she gave Riley in episode 4, and because if everything is God, so is the vampire. Decent Films
• Heaven now. Daniel Martins, a retired Episcopal bishop, reads the show as a warning against believing God's kingdom can be fully achieved on earth right now, and links Father Paul's promise of eternal life today to prosperity preaching. He also praises how accurately the show depicts Lent, Easter and the church calendar. The Living Church
• It takes faith seriously. Allison Keene, TV editor at Paste, argues the show treats Christianity with respect rather than mockery, and calls Erin's episode 4 heaven speech its emotional center. Paste
• Bev as a type of churchgoer. A Baptist minister writing for Good Faith Media argues Bev stands for real people who quote scripture to judge and isolate others, then dodge blame, pointing to her hiding in a cupboard when real faith is required. Good Faith Media
• Bev and secret knowledge. The Catholic site Aleteia compares Bev's faith, built on insider status, to Gnosticism, an ancient heresy that said salvation came from secret knowledge only a few possessed. Aleteia
• Hassan flips a Hollywood pattern. Writing for the University of Chicago Divinity School, scholar Sahar Ghumkhor argues the show reverses post-9/11 TV habits: the Muslim character is the one standing up to American religious extremism. She reads Hassan and his son dying in prayer as the show's most dignified moment. Sightings
• A darker reading. Theologian Roger Olson suggests the show can be read as a veiled commentary on how the Church tolerated and covered up clergy abuse for decades. This is his interpretation, not Flanagan's. Patheos
• Why "vampire" is never said. Flanagan says the word would hijack everything, and Macy calls the creature a Rorschach test. In this world, nobody seems to know vampire lore, which is why Sarah researches a real blood disorder instead. Fandom, Den of Geek
• The rules come from Dracula. Flanagan borrowed the idea that a person isn't fully a vampire until their human body dies, which is why characters stay "in between" until they die. TheWrap
• Six against the monster. Both Dracula and 'Salem's Lot have six heroes fighting the vampire, and so does Midnight Mass's final group. Flanagan said that was unintentional. Den of Geek

What Flanagan says the ending means

• The Angel stands for fanaticism. Flanagan calls the show a parable. The creature represents corruption in any belief system, which is why the show never shows it die: you can drive extremism away for a while, but it comes back. Den of Geek
• Leeza's legs don't prove the Angel died. Leeza losing feeling in the canoe only means the creature's blood is leaving her body and she'll be okay. TheWrap
• The kids inherit the ashes. He connects Warren and Leeza watching the island burn to his own children inheriting a world the adults damaged. Den of Geek
• He didn't try to please people. He wanted the ending with the most to say over time, and still wanted some peace and forgiveness at the close. Den of Geek
• Erin's speech is his best guess. He calls her answer to what happens when we die his best answer for his own kids. SYFY Wire
• The sun rises on everyone. Hassan quotes Matthew 5:45 (the sun rises on the evil and the good alike), which undercuts Bev's belief that she gets to decide who is righteous. SYFY Wire

The case against it

• Scores. 87% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and 79% from audiences. Metacritic gives it 75 out of 100. Rotten Tomatoes, Wikipedia
• The main complaint is that it talks too much. Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com said the long speeches drain momentum in the middle episodes and the symbolism is too obvious. RogerEbert.com
• Too long. CNN called it a long-winded sermon with a disappointing finish, and the San Francisco Chronicle said seven hours could have been five. CNN, SF Chronicle
• Plot holes. Alex Jennings in Uncanny Magazine found Hassan's move to the island hard to believe and said Erin's lost pregnancy deserved far more than a few minutes. Uncanny
• Some Catholic critics hated it. Catholic News Service, the US bishops' news agency, called the premise absurd and the communion material sacrilegious. Catholic Review
• The makeup. Several critics found the old-age makeup on 29-year-old Alex Essoe distracting. RogerEbert.com
• Flanagan's response. He says executives constantly push back on his monologues, and that he wouldn't change a word of Midnight Mass. SlashFilm
• People watched anyway. In its second week it was Netflix's #3 English-language show, behind only Squid Game and Maid. It logged about 142 million viewing hours in its first four weeks. Netflix Top 10, FlixPatrol
• Awards. The episode 6 script won a Bram Stoker Award, the Horror Writers Association's main prize. Wikipedia

Things to notice on a rewatch

• The car in the opening crash has a Christian fish symbol on it. BuzzFeed
• "Remember you are dust." The Ash Wednesday line in episode 2 foreshadows the islanders burning to ash in the sun. SYFY Wire
• Communion and AA are linked. The camera cuts from Father Paul raising the communion host to an AA leader holding up a sobriety coin. Decent Films
• The mirror from Oculus sits on the rec center stage during Riley and Father Paul's AA meetings. Looper
• Riley's bedroom has a Se7en poster, an X-Files poster of Dana Scully (Annabeth Gish later replaced Gillian Anderson as that show's female lead), Christopher Pike books (Flanagan's next show, The Midnight Club, adapts Pike), and Stephen King novels. BuzzFeed, TV Tropes
• Ed Flynn reads King's Revival in episode 1, a novel about a preacher who loses his faith. Flanagan was once attached to adapt it. Looper
• Clipping wings. In episode 4 Erin talks about clipping doves' wings with her mother. In the finale she cuts the Angel's wings. BuzzFeed
• The Damascus flashback in episode 3 frames the Angel with a halo-like light, while Pruitt narrates the words of communion over it feeding him. "Paul" also recalls the apostle Paul, who was transformed on the road to Damascus. BuzzFeed
• The wrong vestment. In episode 1, Bev scolds Father Paul for wearing gold (for feast days) instead of green (for ordinary Sundays). Linklater calls it his favorite scene. BuzzFeed
• "The church didn't burn in '84." Bev's remark about an old fire is what gives the survivors the idea to burn everything. Den of Geek
• Riley's last vision. When Riley dies, the young woman he killed appears to him smiling, offering forgiveness rather than haunting him. Decent Films
• Casting as a clue. Alex Essoe, who plays the elderly Mildred, is about twenty years younger than Annabeth Gish, who plays her daughter. If you know that, the de-aging twist is easy to guess. TV Tropes