Frank Langella will no longer be leading the cast of Netflix’s upcoming series The Fall of the House of Usher. According to Deadline, Langella has been fired from the production following an investigation of his alleged misconduct while working on set.
Mike Flanagan’s new series was set to star Langella as Roger Usher, patriarch of the Usher family. The Fall of the House of Usher is a modern retelling of the Edgar Allen Poe story of the same name. The show was already halfway through production when the decision was made to recast Langella, so all of his character’s scenes will have to be reshot.
While the details of Langella’s exact on-set behavior remains under wraps, Deadline confirmed that the misconduct could be classified as sexual harassment. Allegedly, the 84-year-old actor had made inappropriate comments to a female co-star on set while working. The decision to replace a lead actor in a project in the midst of filming isn’t one to be taken lightly — the allegations must have been serious.
The eight-episode limited series has previously been described by Flanagan as “just violent and insane and horrific as anything I have ever done.” Flanagan and fellow executive producer Michael Fimognari will each direct four episodes.
It’s unclear how much Flanagan’s recasting will affect the release date for The Fall of the House of Usher. Besides going through the process of finding a suitable replacement, re-filming all of Flanagan’s scenes will be a massive undertaking.
