From Hill House to Midnight Mass: First chilling teaser for Mike Flanagan’s new Netflix horror series

Something strange is happening on Crockett Island, and the first teaser trailer for Mike Flanagan's much anticipated new Netflix series Midnight Mass isn't afraid to ask the big question: Why?

After adapting the works of Shirley Jackson and Henry James for Netfix's The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, respectively, writer/director Flanagan and his producing partner Trevor Macy announced that their next Netflix horror project would be an original series with a deeply personal meaning. Now, after months of anticipation, we've finally got our first look at Midnight Mass, and it's packed with creepy small-town vibes.

Set in the small community of Crockett Island, Midnight Mass will follow the arrival of two key figures in the town: A young man returning (Zach Gilford) to Crockett in disgrace, and a mysterious new priest (Hamish Linklater) named Father Paul. Father Paul's arrival seems to bring with it more than just sermons, though. Strange things are happening on Crockett Island, things that seem primed to heighten already existing tensions, deepen old rifts, and reopen old wounds.

Are they miracles, curses, or something else entirely, and what does Father Paul know about them? The teaser doesn't offer much in the way of plot, but what it lacks in story details it more than makes up for in atmosphere. Check it out:

Minutes before the teaser arrived on Netflix, Flanagan introduced it via a letter to fans posted to his Twitter account, in which he called Midnight Mass "my favorite project so far."

"There is darkness at work on Crockett Island. Some of it is supernatural, but the scariest is born of human nature," Flanagan wrote. "The darkness that animates this story isn't hard to see in our own world, unfortunately.

"But this show is about something else as well...faith itself. One of the great mysteries of human nature. How even in the darkness, in the worst of it, in the absence of light -- and hope -- we sing."

In addition to Gilford and Linklater, Midnight Mass features an ensemble cast that includes several mainstays from Flanagan's ever-expanding stock company of preferred actors, including his wife and creative partner Kate Siegel (who appears in most of his projects, but most notably co-wrote and starred in Hush), The Haunting of Bly Manor star Rahul Kohli, The Haunting of Hill House stars Annabeth Gish and Henry Thomas, Doctor Sleep star Alex Essoe, and many more.

Midnight Mass arrives September 24 on Netflix.