Is The Fall of the House of Usher based on a book? Which Edgar Allan Poe stories is Netflix series inspired by

Upcoming Netflix horror series The Fall of the House of Usher explores the collapse of a powerful family dynasty and its heirs are killed off one by one in gruesome and inventive ways.

The series takes inspiration from the works of gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe, with most of the show’s characters, among them the Ushers, Arthur Pym, Fortunato, and C. Auguste Dupin, sharing their names with those from his stories and poems. 

As well as the updated 21st century setting, Netflix has taken a few other creative liberties for the series. Verna, the mysterious antagonist who wreaks havoc on the Usher family, is an entirely new character created for the show.

Overall though, The Fall of the House of Usher is a chilling tour of Poe’s writing that weaves elements from his various works, originally written in the 1830s and 40s, into a new semi-anthology tale.

Poe, one of America’s most celebrated writers, penned more than 70 short stories, and 50 poems before his untimely and mysterious death in 1849, aged just 40. Many of his greatest works feature in some form in the new Netflix series.

Which stories is The Fall of the House of Usher based on?

The main Edgard Allan Poe story that the series is based on is, of course, The Fall of the House of Usher, first published in 1839. The show’s structure is based around this story which sees an unnamed narrator visit his only friend Roderick Usher at his gothic home. 

Roderick had written to his friend telling him that his sister, Madeline has died, and that he is ill himself, and the narrator has come out of concern for Roderick. In the series Roderick tells his companion about the tragic deaths of his family, each episode explaining how a different child came to die.

Within the series, specific episodes are also heavily inspired by other Poe stories and poems, and most of the episode titles are named after his short stories or poems. 

The second episode is heavily inspired by one of Poe’s most well known stories, The Masque of the Red Death. The 1842 tale follows an extravagant ball held by wealthy socialites as a plague spreads across the land outside. The Netflix series updates the story, with the event now an underground rave.

Episode three is a loose adaptation of the short story The Murders in Rue Morgue, described as the first modern detective story. In the series the action takes place in a medical facility near the Usher’s home in the US, rather than on a fictional Paris street.

The fourth episode, The Black Cat, is adapted from Poe’s 1843 story of the same name, whilst episode five is a loose adaptation of The Tell-Tale Heart, and episode six takes inspiration from The Gold-Bug.

The penultimate episode, which features one of the series’ most gruesome deaths, is based on one of Poe’s most acclaimed tales, The Pit and the Pendulum, about a man who is tortured by the Spanish Inquisition.

The dramatic final episode in the series is titled The Raven, and does feature a modern twist on the classic Poe poem about a man being tormented by the bird. However, the central theme of the episode actually comes from the 1846 short story, The Cask of Amontillado, about a man who takes revenge on a nobleman he believes to have insulted him by entombing him in a cellar by building a wall around him.

Other elements from Poe’s work that feature throughout the show include the short stories The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, and Berenice, and the poems Lenore, and Annabel Lee.