Midnight Mass - What We Know So Far

Religion and fear will always be two subjects that are closely tied together, usually because certain religious practices have the power to help alleviate fears. For instance, people might choose to believe in an afterlife because they fear death, or, alternatively, someone might choose to do good because they are afraid of divine judgment. It's this intersection between religion and fear that appears to be at the heart of Netflix's upcoming limited series, "Midnight Mass," too.

Directed by Mike Flanagan ("The Haunting of Hill House," "Doctor Sleep"), "Midnight Mass” focuses on a small town located on an isolated island off the coast of North America after the arrival of a new priest marks the beginning of an increasingly odd series of events. Based on the success of Flanagan's previous TV and film work, "Midnight Mass" has the potential to be one of 2021's major horror titles.

Here's everything we know so far about the release date, cast, and plot of "Midnight Mass."

Horror fans looking for something to be scared by are in luck because "Midnight Mass" is slated to come out sooner rather than later. On August 9, Netflix released the first official trailer for the upcoming limited series, introducing potential viewers to the setting and characters they are bound to become more familiar with when the show makes its debut. Along with this sneak peek came the announcement that "Midnight Mass" will be released on Netflix on Friday, September 24, leaving anyone out there who wants to watch it leading up to Halloween with plenty of time to spare.

While publicity for "Midnight Mass" has been fairly minimal up to this point, director Mike Flanagan has been barely able to contain his excitement for the project. In a letter released along with the trailer, Flanagan revealed that "Midnight Mass" stands as his "favorite project" that he's worked on to date. On top of sharing a personal connection with the show's religious subject matter as a former altar boy, Flanagan believes the series explores "one of the great mysteries of human nature," and hopes that others enjoy the series as much as he clearly enjoyed making it. 

Of course, we'll see if fans actually feel the same connection to the project as Flanagan does when "Midnight Mass" debuts next month.

Netflix seems to be intent on keeping most of the plot details from "Midnight Mass" a secret. In fact, while the streaming giant has been upfront about the series' various cast members, it has not revealed much about their respective roles in the show.

That said, the show's plot is set to kick off with the arrival of two characters: a "disgraced young man" played by Zach Gilford ("Friday Night Lights," "The Purge: Anarchy") and a "charismatic" priest named Father Paul, who is played by actor Hamish Linklater ("Legion," "The Big Short"). These two appear to be the most influential players in the story, but their respective motives and intentions have yet to be revealed.

Elsewhere, Netflix has revealed very little about the series' other characters, who will be played by actors Kate Siegel, Rahul Abburi, Crystal Balint, Matt Biedel, Alex Essoe, Annabeth Gish, Rahul Kohli, Kristin Lehman, Robert Longstreet, Igby Rigney, Samantha Sloyan, Henry Thomas, and Michael Trucco, among others. 

Several of the show's cast members, including Siegel, Thomas, Sloyan, Kohli, Gish, and Longstreet, have appeared in some of Flanagan's previous work and will likely be recognizable to fans of "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Haunting of Bly Manor." As for who each of them is playing in "Midnight Mass," it looks like Netflix intends on keeping those character details under wraps for the time being.

At the beginning of "Midnight Mass," viewers can likely expect to find its central location, an island town named Crockett Island, to be a quaint, if not necessarily strange, place. Like most isolated communities, it should have plenty of its own idiosyncrasies, and Netflix has revealed that there will already be some "existing divisions" between the town's inhabitants by the time the show begins. However, things begin changing quickly in Crockett Island when the arrivals of Zach Gilford's character and the new town priest, Father Paul, occur at the same time that a series of inexplicable events, what some might label as miracles, begin happening in the town.

Enraptured by these apparent miracles, Crockett Island becomes an increasingly religious place, which leads to the town's existing divisions just becoming more apparent and powerful. The truth behind the town's wave of strange events is the mystery at the heart of "Midnight Mass." Fortunately, viewers will get to unravel the show's secrets for themselves when "Midnight Mass" premieres on September 24 on Netflix.