‘Fall of the House of Usher’ star Kate Siegel responds to Frank Langella’s firing [Exclusive]

Kate Siegel loves her job. That was clear in every moment of our conversation when we spoke to Siegel last month about her work in The Time Traveler’s Wife. In the HBO sci-fi drama, she plays Annette, the late mother of the titular time traveler, though the actress is best known for starring in her husband Mike Flanagan’s projects, like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass.

So, when it was announced that actor Frank Langella was fired from the upcoming Flanagan Netflix series, The Fall of the House of Usher, Inverse asked Siegel — who is currently filming the show — about the matter. She opened up about the mood on set and how the series compares to Flanagan’s previous horror projects.

What happened? — Frank Langella was initially cast in the lead of The Fall of the House of Usher but was terminated after a misconduct investigation in April 2022. Langella responded to the allegations in an article for Deadline. He claims he was “canceled” after touching a female co-star during a love scene in a way that didn’t follow the intimacy coordinator’s choreography.

“Legislating the placement of hands, to my mind, is ludicrous,” Langella writes. “It undermines instinct and spontaneity.”

Bruce Greenwood replaced Langella to play the role of Roderick Usher, with plans to reshoot scenes that had already been filmed.

Kate Siegel as Annette in The Time Traveler’s Wife. HBO

Kate Siegel responds — Langella’s misconduct allegations obviously affected the mood on set. When asked about Langella’s firing, Siegel compared the House of Usher production to the experiences of filming Flanagan’s prior shows.

“In every Flanagan film and TV show I’ve been on, the experience takes the shape of the story we’re telling,” the actress tells Inverse. “The Hill House set felt like a family. There was infighting and love and passion. The Midnight Mass set felt like a long meditative journey full of love; it felt like decades of understanding.”

For the upcoming series, it was a continuation of that pattern.

The Fall of the House of Usher is a bombastic, chaotic evil mess,” Siegel says. “It’s buckets of blood. It’s so much fun to do. The characters are all turned up to 11, and it’s like nothing anyone has ever seen. But something kind of lurching and evil is making its way through all of us.”

Kate Siegel plays Theodora in The Haunting of Hill House.Netflix

The Fall of the House of Usher may have led a tumultuous path during production, but it’s clear those involved aren’t letting any setbacks hinder the creative process. It’s going to be an unprecedented entry into the Flanagan-verse and one Siegel is anxious to see released into the universe.

“I am so excited to see the art that it makes because we’ve never done this before,” she says. “We’ve never just gone, What if we made a show about gross people?

Ultimately, Siegel is most thankful for the support on set as the entire cast and crew handled such a major interruption to production. “I do have to say, there’s nothing that I feel as grateful for as being a part of the Flanagan family and the Netflix family for being protected and listened to.”

The Fall of the House of Usher is currently in production.

Kate Siegel loves her job. That was clear in every moment of our conversation when we spoke to Siegel last month about her work in The Time Traveler’s Wife. In the HBO sci-fi drama, she plays Annette, the late mother of the titular time traveler, though the actress is best known for starring in her…

Kate Siegel loves her job. That was clear in every moment of our conversation when we spoke to Siegel last month about her work in The Time Traveler’s Wife. In the HBO sci-fi drama, she plays Annette, the late mother of the titular time traveler, though the actress is best known for starring in her…