To celebrate the release of The Haunting of Bly Manor, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Victoria Pedretti, Henry Thomas, Amelia Eve, and T'Nia Miller chatted with BuzzFeed and answered our burning questions.
Here's everything we learned:
🚨Obviously, MASSIVE spoilers for the entire season ahead!🚨
1. First, the sets were separated into the floors of Bly Manor, so you could move from one room to another effortlessly — Amelia Eve, who plays Jamie, said it allowed everything to feel connected.
2. And the exterior of Bly Manor was actually located next to a cannabis farm, which the cast just found hilarious.
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3. Kate Siegel wasn't actually in the scenes where the Lady of the Lake drags Dani, Peter, Rebecca, Flora, and Henry toward the lake — she was played by an incredible stunt woman named Daniela Dib.
Victoria Pedretti explained that being dragged by the Lady of the Lake was a "very complicated thing to accomplish." She continued, saying, "I personally felt a bit like a puppet. We were rigged up on so many strings going in different directions."
4. T'Nia Miller actually had no idea that Hannah was going to be dead the entire time — she didn't find out until she read Episode 5 after they had already started filming.
Creator Mike Flanagan and costume designer Lynn Falconer kept asking her if she had read Episode 5 yet, and she hadn't. When she finally did, she was stunned. T'Nia said her first reaction was, "That's super cool. I've never played a ghost before."
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5. Amelia believes that Dani has been visiting Jamie ever since Jamie saw her under the water, but she doesn't think Jamie knows that.
6. Also, Amelia thinks that if given the opportunity, Jamie would've taken over Dani's duty to become the Lady of the Lake.
She said, "[Dani] was so selfless in that respect. And Jamie's quite a selfless person. So, I think if Jamie could have, she would have taken it off of Dani, but Dani wouldn't let her, and so that's why Dani doesn't let Jamie know that she's there."
7. In the scenes when Peter was controlling Miles, Oliver Jackson-Cohen would actually read the lines as Peter before filming so that Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, who plays Miles, could see how Peter would behave.
Oliver explained, "We would sit down, and I would do the scene, I would read the Miles lines as Peter, and then he would kind of copy it."
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8. And when they went to film Miles' scenes, Oliver would actually be just off camera in order to help Benjamin.
Oliver said, "It's quite a hard thing for a 10- or 11-year-old to suddenly be a 35-year-old."
9. T'Nia thinks that Hannah and Owen definitely would've been in a relationship if Hannah didn't die.
She joked, "I think that Hannah hasn't been touched by a man for so long, once she started getting some, you know, she would've been holding onto her man for dear life."
10. Also, T'Nia believes that Hannah kept going back to the memory of meeting Owen in the kitchen because that was the moment "she fell in love" and it's the first time she felt that way since her husband's death.
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11. Amelia had no idea Carla Gugino was going to play an older Jamie — before booking the role, she actually told her mom that she hoped she got to work with Carla.
Victoria said that having Carla around was everything. She said, "It was the most incredible, beautiful thing to finish that season and watch her being Jamie and loving Dani. Oh my god, it was, like, really touching."
12. Also, Amelia believes that the story Jamie is telling is the first time Jamie would've delved into the memory of her relationship with Dani and Bly Manor.
She thinks it was a very cathartic moment for Jamie.
13. Victoria's favorite Dani and Jamie moment is when Jamie has her big monologue and shows Dani the moonflower.
Victoria explained, "It really says something that Jamie, who keeps everything so private, takes the time to water their flower, you know, to try to cultivate this relationship and open up and be vulnerable."
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14. Meanwhile, Amelia's favorite Dani and Jamie scene is when they are in their flower shop and Jamie says, "I love you" — also, the scene was originally much longer.
Amelia said, "It was like a promising moment for them finally. Everything had been a bit of a trial up until then, and someone was always a bit down and someone was pulling somebody else up. So, it was finally a moment where we both just got to be happy in this relationship. It was really beautiful."
15. T'Nia and Amelia's favorite memory from set was filming the scene when all of the residents of Bly Manor are in the kitchen baking a cake.
T'Nia remembered Benjamin eating a lot of the batter and "bouncing off the ceiling" by the time they finished filming.
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16. Also, Amelia started a food fight while filming the batter scene — T'Nia recalled being "covered in flour" by the end.
17. Henry Thomas and Amelia's favorite hidden ghost was the soldier.
18. Meanwhile, Victoria and Oliver loved the plague doctor, and T'Nia was obsessed with the creepy doll children.
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19. Henry said it was "exciting and very challenging" playing two versions of the same character.
Henry explained, "I had to know both sides of the scene. But the way that we filmed them was very difficult because once you got a take that we could use for one side, then we were locked into that performance. It was probably the most calculating that I've ever had to do on set, in terms of scene work, but I'm really proud of the scenes."
20. T'Nia got to keep some of Hannah's earrings after filming wrapped.
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21. And Amelia actually got to keep one of Jamie's dresses that was made specifically for her.
22. Victoria, Henry, and Oliver all identify with their characters from Hill House more than their Bly Manor characters.
Victoria explained, "I feel like the world I come from or live in, I guess is a bit more similar to Nell than to Dani. But I don't find it difficult to relate to Dani."
23. And finally, Victoria's favorite reference to Hill House is when Hannah almost says "falls around you like confetti," which, of course, is a nod to Nell.
She said, "They just don't say 'falls around like confetti,' but they just keep almost getting to it."
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