Netflix's "The Midnight Club" Cast Just Answered Some Questions About The Show, And You'll Want To Know Their Answers
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To celebrate Netflix's The Midnight Club, we sat down with Igby Rigney (Kevin), Sauriyan Sapkota (Amesh), Iman Benson (Ilonka), Adia (Cheri), Annarah Cymone (Sandra), Ruth Codd (Anya), Aya Furukawa (Natsuki), and William "Chris" Sumpter (Spencer) to chat about what went into creating this latest Mike Flanagan horror series.
Here's everything we learned:
🚨 There are MASSIVE spoilers ahead for every episode of The Midnight Club, so if you haven't finished, you might want to come back later. 🚨
1.First, The Midnight Club cast did the very first table read for the season in the actual library on set, which they described as "really cool."
![<div><p>"We never saw the whole set [before the table read] and it was done at that time," Annarah Cymone said. And Aya Furukawa added, "Walking into this massive library is honestly one of the most magical moments."</p></div><span> Eike Schroter / Netflix</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/csQtIuaaMS._B_hfudymhA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/73fdd305c016dc9d80aefb7bc29dd4f2)
"We never saw the whole set [before the table read] and it was done at that time," Annarah Cymone said. And Aya Furukawa added, "Walking into this massive library is honestly one of the most magical moments."
2.Speaking about working with Mike Flanagan, Aya called him very "generous as a director, writer, and everything." She continued, saying, "I think he put a lot of care and time into each and every one of us."
"It feels very collaborative too. He listens," Annarah added. Ruth Codd said that Mike's writing was something she admired and that "none of the episodes are predictable," which is a testament to his work.
3.For some of the cast, this was their first TV show or movie ever, so Adia explained that Mike Flanagan was "really patient" and taught them how to work on a set.
![<div><p>"This is my first time on set at all," Adia said. "I didn't know anything and it was really cool to have him walk us through everything. He was like, 'You ask all the questions you want, and it's okay. I will help you.'" Ruth added, "A lot of us are in the same boat [of never having professionally acted before], so we just threw ourselves into it. We had each other."</p></div><span> Taylor Miller / BuzzFeed</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/mnCtB.jm8g.ph8YQZoqC2w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTk2MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/183841699a7f59b9f28908c2cbb7933a)
"This is my first time on set at all," Adia said. "I didn't know anything and it was really cool to have him walk us through everything. He was like, 'You ask all the questions you want, and it's okay. I will help you.'" Ruth added, "A lot of us are in the same boat [of never having professionally acted before], so we just threw ourselves into it. We had each other."
4.Ruth was actually discovered by The Midnight Club producers and casting department on TikTok, and she had never professionally acted before.
"They found me on TikTok in the dark corners of the internet," Ruth said. "I thought like casting were taking a piss when they asked me to audition because I'd never acted. I submitted a self-tape and I was like, I'm never gonna hear back from them. Then they rang me and told me I got it."
5.Igby Rigney and Annarah previously worked with Mike Flanagan on Midnight Mass, and they said it was fun to return to The Midnight Club, which shared some of the same actors and a lot of the same crew.
![<div><p>"It was cool just to come back because Igby was there and Sam [Sloyan] and Zach [Gilford]," Annarah said. "It was like coming back to school after going to summer camp or something." Speaking about working with the same crew again, Igby added, "We knew all the makeup people and everybody. Very comfortable environment."</p></div><span> Taylor Miller / BuzzFeed</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/0xC9XeECH7yfz74LXkyKrg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTk2MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/1aa23d42175f0dd19927543fcd4b0656)
"It was cool just to come back because Igby was there and Sam [Sloyan] and Zach [Gilford]," Annarah said. "It was like coming back to school after going to summer camp or something." Speaking about working with the same crew again, Igby added, "We knew all the makeup people and everybody. Very comfortable environment."
6.Sauriyan Sapkota said it was a dream to share an episode with Rahul Kohli, who he has been a fan of since Rahul starred on iZombie. Sauriyan explained that having to act "awestruck" by Rahul's character in the episode was easy because that's genuinely how he felt.
He continued, saying, "It was easy to play that because I myself was like Oh, I get to play with Rahul! And he was like, 'Alright, mate.' I'm Rahul's mate."
7.Annarah and Chris Sumpter's favorite story to film was the black-and-white episode, which they rehearsed together a lot. In fact, Annarah was actually painted gray in order for the black-and--white look to show up properly on film.
"We tried to do the cadence of how those noir films were as well. We got to rehearse so much together," Annarah said. Meanwhile, Chris added, "For that episode, Annarah was just, like, painted grey while she was bleeding out on the floor giving a killer monologue. Surprisingly, I didn't notice at all. I was so in it."
8.Aya said she was nervous filming Episode 8, aka Natsuki's big story episode, because she actually has a fear of driving, and the episode required her to pretend to drive the entire time.
"I don't know how to drive," she said. "I've never driven a car in my life and actually have a fear of driving. So, during the entire shoot, I was nervously kind of acting."
9.In terms of The Midnight Club Easter eggs, Igby's favorite is one that is hidden in the basement. And if you watch Episode 6, you can spot the Lasser Glass from Mike Flanagan's 2013 film Oculus.
10.Filming in the basement of Brightcliffe was one of the hardest sets to film on for the cast because it was actually pitch black down there. The cast said they really had to use flashlights to find their way around, and the rats Ilonka encounters in one scene were real.
Iman Benson said, "There's one scene in particular, where in the script, it's written that rats kind of run across in front of me, and I thought they were gonna CGI it. That day, they have like cages of rats, plus the dark basement. It's pretty eerie down there."
11.In terms of if they knew some of the biggest plot twists of the season, Adia explained that they were "learning as [they] went along" because they would get new scripts while they were filming other episodes.
"We never really fully knew where we were going along our journey, which was kind of cool. We had to really be in the moment and just like live in our characters right then and there," Adia added.
12.However, prior to filming, the cast got "little timelines" that gave them a rough idea of where their characters were going to go throughout the season. They also got breakdowns of their characters' pasts that explained what they were up to before the events of The Midnight Club.
13.The scene Ruth is most proud of is when Anya gives her monologue to Ilonka in Episode 2, because for the first time, she felt like she was able to express what it felt like growing up as a disabled teenager.
Ruth explained, "I'm not very good at putting things like into words, like how I'm feeling, and I remember how I felt as a disabled teenager and I was like, That's how I felt! I was just never able to put it into words. That scene for me, I could, like, feel it when I was saying the lines, like in the pit of my stomach."
14.Sauriyan explained that for Episode 5, they actually blocked off an entire street to film Amesh's big story episode. It was also "really fun" to get into the hair, makeup, and costumes for Episode 5 and then get to play in a vintage video game arcade, where the games actually worked.
15.For Annarah, the scene that was the most emotional to film was the one with Sandra's final moments where she leaves Brightcliffe. She actually drove away in the car as the rest of the cast stood on set.
"That was just a lot of crying all day," she recalled. "I actually drove away in the car. It was very tough. But that scene, I was really, really proud of. It was nice to have literally everybody in the scene with me."
16.While filming Episode 9, Chris actually sliced open his hand while filming the moment where he's strapped to a scientific machine. He said he's pretty sure the crew and director didn't notice he actually started bleeding while shooting the moment.
![<div><p>"There's a screw that I, like, started picking at while I was screaming. I remember at some point it fell and I sliced my finger," he recalled. "I was bleeding and I don't think [the crew and director] noticed because they were like, 'Keep rolling! Keep rolling! Perfect! Keep screaming.' I'm like actually bleeding out on the floor. I saw the result and I was like, 'That was amazing.'"</p></div><span> Netflix</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/TAaUlCY0nx2CA3.KLsQHLA--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTg1NA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/9fe785fd19e183242b54bc32b2aa8c44)
"There's a screw that I, like, started picking at while I was screaming. I remember at some point it fell and I sliced my finger," he recalled. "I was bleeding and I don't think [the crew and director] noticed because they were like, 'Keep rolling! Keep rolling! Perfect! Keep screaming.' I'm like actually bleeding out on the floor. I saw the result and I was like, 'That was amazing.'"
17.Out of all the scenes he filmed in The Midnight Club, Igby said he was "so nervous" about shooting the scene where Kevin meets Ilonka for the first time.
18.Before filming Amesh and Natsuki's big kiss scene, Sauriyan and Aya danced in circles in the greenroom just to pump each other up before the big moment because they were both "nervous."
![<div><p>"We were doing laps around [each other]," Sauriyan explained. "We would high five every time we passed each other."</p></div><span> Netflix</span>](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/BkpZwqQol7vAQfTUTJU.jg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTY0MA--/https://media.zenfs.com/en/buzzfeed_articles_778/c834ae84bb1ef34dc668b07040ae9af7)
"We were doing laps around [each other]," Sauriyan explained. "We would high five every time we passed each other."
19.In order to keep the energy light on set, the cast often played games while filming. In particular, they played a lot of rounds of Uno.
"I remember when somebody came off set and told us to shut up," Adia recalled while talking about a time when Chris was "cheating" while playing a round of Uno and they were all yelling at him.
20.Chris said working with Heather Langenkamp, who plays Dr. Stanton, was amazing because "she's pretty badass." He even recalled a time where she took him out for lunch and "held up traffic for 15 minutes while she told me a story."
21.And finally, if The Midnight Club returns for a Season 2, Igby would love to have Dr. Stanton "come tell a story for The Midnight Club." He added, "That's my biggest hope if we get to Season 2."
Check out our full video with The Midnight Club cast below!
The Midnight Club is streaming now on Netflix.
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