The Midnight Club is something completely new for Mike Flanagan. It’s the outlier of the “Flanagan-verse,” both youth-focused and semi-anthologized. But while it’s uncharted territory, it may become his new normal. The last moments of the series leave many questions unanswered. What are viewers wondering about, and what are the odds that we’ll get answers soon?
Major spoilers for The Midnight Club ahead.
The Midnight Club Ending Explained
The last moments of The Midnight Club tie a lot of the show’s elements together. We see Kevin and Ilonka finally confess their feelings, and Ilonka tells the group about Anya’s statue mysteriously being repaired. Then, in the final seconds, we see a hairless Dr. Stanton putting on her wig and looking in the mirror, only for the camera to reveal a Paragon symbol tattooed on the back of her neck.
What does this mean? Well, we don’t know how much longer any of the patients have to live. We know Amesh’s symptoms are worsening, but there’s no ending to their stories, and maybe that’s how it should be.
Obviously, there’s more to Paragon than we thought. Dr. Stanton was adamant about stopping Ilonka and Shasta/Julia from completing the ritual, but if she’s part of Paragon, then what’s her endgame? And what’s the true source of Brightcliffe’s supernatural powers?
That’s a lot of questions that need answers. We may get at least some of them sooner than we think.
Mike Flanagan on Midnight Club Season 2
In a press event Inverse attended, Mike Flanagan explained how The Midnight Club was built for expansion.
“It is certainly designed that way,” Flanagan said. “We also didn’t answer some of the bigger questions this season. Those answers exist, but were meant to be for the next season. If there isn’t one, I’ll put them up on Twitter.”
Midnight Club, as explained by Flanagan and executive producer Trevor Macy, was born from Flanagan’s love of young adult writer Christopher Pike. The Midnight Club is an adaptation of Pike’s novel, while the stories the characters tell are essentially adaptations of his other works. Netflix acquired the rights for 28 of Pike’s stories, which means there are still many more to be explored in a possible Season 2.
In a later conversation with Inverse, Flanagan confirmed he would like to reach Season 3. “This was going to be the intrepid show that was our foundation, and the [series] would branch out from there,” Flanagan said. “That would also let us anthologize a lot of things, we could have cast come in and out. We could have just this endless supply of stories to tell.”
Notably, this means actors could return to the show even after their characters pass on. “If a character dies on the show, that doesn’t mean they’ve left the memory of their friends,” Flanagan said. “And because they all appear in each other’s stories, we can have Ruth in season two as a story character and live on that way.”
Netflix will have to decide the future of The Midnight Club, but the stories are available to be told. Fans will hope to see more seasons and more answers, but if the show isn’t renewed they’ll at least have the memories.
The Midnight Club is now streaming on Netflix.
