Stephen King’s praise feels surreal: Mike Flanagan

Director Mike Flanagan says it feels “surreal” and “wonderful” to be praised by author Stephen King.

King, 71, called Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House “close to a work of genius”.

Responding to King’s kind words, Flanagan told Entertainment Weekly: “It’s insane, and I’ve never spoken to Steve. We email all the time, actually, especially with ‘Doctor Sleep’ going, but I’ve never met him and he’s been my hero since I was a kid...I had no idea he was watching the show. We’ve never discussed the show. It’s like a little 12year-old who just squeaks, and I like to think at some point in my career, maybe I’ll get better at reacting to that. It’s surreal to me and wonderful, and I’m thrilled he loves the show because the other thing I also know about him is if he doesn’t like something, he isn’t shy about it,” he added. The second season of The Haunting of Hill House has not yet been commissioned but the director said he is personally done with the story of the Crain family.

“I don’t want to speculate too much about season two until Netflix and Paramount and Amblin let us know if they want one. What I will say, though, is that as far as I’ve ever been concerned with this, the story of the Crain family is told. I think there are different directions we could go in, with the house or something completely different,” he said.

“I love the idea of an anthology as well. But to me, I felt like the Crains have been through enough, and we left them exactly as we all wanted to remember them, those of us who worked on it,” he added.

Director Mike Flanagan

Author Stephen King