The Midnight Club Creator Answered Every Lingering Question About The Show

Netflix may have cut The Midnight Club’s story short, but true to the show’s central message, its ghostly tale is still being told. After the streamer announced the supernatural drama won’t return for Season 2 on Dec. 2, creator Mike Flanagan shared his full plans for the axed follow-up season, complete with some much-needed answers about those mysterious ghosts, Dr. Stanton’s secret, and all the planned character deaths. Since Season 1 ended with about a million cliffhangers, Mike Flanagan’s Midnight Club spoilers are a very necessary read for all the viewers who want satisfaction.

Flanagan laid out the full story he had planned for the now-canceled Midnight Club Season 2 in a lengthy Tumblr post on Dec. 2. He revealed the season would have said goodbye to pretty much every main cast member, with Amesh dying first, followed by Natsuki, then Kevin and Ilonka. Spence would have benefitted from advancements in HIV treatment and been able to leave Brightcliffe by the season’s end, and Cheri would have remained as the only original patient left in the hospice.

The big reveal, though, was the identity of the two ghosts Ilonka and Kevin saw haunting Brightcliffe. As the Season 1 finale hinted at, and many fans theorized, those ghosts were indeed the spirits of Stanley Oscar Freelan and Vera Freelan, the couple who built Brightcliffe. And there was a reason Kevin and Ilonka were the only ones who could see them.

As in Christopher Pike’s 1990 novel The Midnight Club, Flanagan confirmed Ilonka and Kevin were part of a constantly reincarnating love story. Stanley and Vera were two of their past lives, so they were actually remembering their previous love story when seeing their spirits in one another. Flanagan revealed that Ilonka and Kevin would have realized they are cosmically bound to one another and embraced death when it came for them, since they knew they’d be reborn and find each other once again.

Speaking of death, Flanagan previously teased that the personification of Death itself appeared in Season 1, and now he has finally revealed who that was. Turns out, the janitor, played by Robert Longstreet, was actually only visible to Brightcliffe’s patients the whole time. He was the personification of Death, and was meant to have meaningful conversations with each patient right before they died. Flanagan clarified that the janitor was not a malicious character, but would have been portrayed as a caring facilitator.

That shadowy presence that appeared before Anya’s death played a similar role. Flanagan explained this mysterious shadow was really a helpful concept helping ease the dying person into the next plane. “The Shadow is THEMSELVES. It’s the Unknown,” Flanagan wrote. “As it engulfs someone, in the last moment of their life, it takes them through a place of understanding and catharsis, preparing them for the next step.”

Finally, Flanagan also provided an answer to the big mystery Season 1 ended on: Dr. Stanton’s true identity. The showrunner confirmed all those fan theories that Stanton is really Athena were true. Yes, Stanton was really Aceso’s daughter, who managed to escape the Paragon cult and took over Brightcliffe to change it into a place that celebrated life.

That final scene of Stanton taking off her wig to reveal a bald head was meant to signal that she had cancer, something she would have battled alongside her patients in Season 2. Flanagan said Stanton would have gone into remission and survived the disease, but it would have brought her much closer to the kids at Brightcliffe.

Unfortunately, Midnight Club fans will never get to see all this come to light on their TV screens, but at least the story of Brightcliffe was still able to be told. In a way, it’s fitting that the full story was passed down to fans this way — like another ghostly tale the Midnight Club would tell each other in the library.