The below article includes spoilers for The Haunting of Bly Manor that is streaming on Netflix now.
Actor Kate Siegel came forward to discuss what it was like playing a character in Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Bly Manor. It was kept a secret till the penultimate episode of the show.
Siegel disclosed that she found this secret-keeping to be “a joy”. In a recent interview with Collider, she said, “I love to be sneaky”.
She further said, “I’m always keeping secrets and planning surprises… I adore it.” She added while referencing how Viola lived in the 1700s in the series, “I love messing with Twitter. I hope that everyone sees when I would post gif responses to their questions about who my character was, all of the gifs I would post were in black and white… I was letting you know a little secret”.
The Haunting of Bly Manor Is Behind The Scene Story Of A Couple
Once, Seigel even jokingly tweeted about Mike Flanagan, Seigel’s husband, “Am I still in this or no?” And replied to the production company, Intrepid Pictures, that Flanagan co-runs, “Honestly. Can someone answer my calls?”
Siegel depicted Viola Willoughby, actual heiress to the Bly manor, who withstands a tragic death at the hands of her sister. Her death concludes in her character’s haunting and the swear of the manor’s grounds. Seigel ensured that Mike Flanagan didn’t originally illustrate what her role would be in The Haunting of Bly Manor, “late in the game”. This initially made her envious of her costars’ parts that were interpreted early. She said, “I had just had a baby. So I knew that my footprint in Bly was gonna be smaller.”
“When they told me I was gonna get to play Viola, I thought I was just given the greatest gift. They could have excluded me completely because I had responsibilities at home but instead they created this perfect little gothic fairytale that I got to go create with Katie Parker (Perdita Willoughby).”
By the end of the 8th episode of The Haunting of Bly Manor, it was confirmed that Viola is the Lady in the Lake.
Siegel divides the dreadful role with stunt actor, Daniela Dib, who played the ghost’s faceless scenes, so Siegel could play with her newborn. Dib also played the role in the underwater scenes, Seigel said, this was done to allow her to reach home early and breastfeed her newborn and not”spend all day on a cold set. I’m very grateful for [Dib]. I think she did an incredible job.”
The Haunting of Bly Manor is the second installment in The Haunting anthology. It stars Victoria Pedretti, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Amelia Eve, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohli, Tahirah Sharif, Amelie Bea Smith, Benjamin Evan Ainsworth, and Henry Thomas, with Kate Siegel, Katie Parker, Alex Essoe and Matthew Holness. It is available on Netflix.
