Later this summer, director Lenny Abrahamson’s follow up to Room will adapt Sarah Waters’ Gothic novel, The Little StrangerOpens in a new tab. Domhnall GleesonOpens in a new tab, who is perhaps best known among genre fans for his role as General Hux in the new Star WarsOpens in a new tab trilogy, has stepped into the leading role for The Little Stranger. In the film, he portrays Dr. Faraday, a country doctor in post-World War II Britain who is called upon for help in the summer of 1948. However, Faraday’s latest patient will reawaken some ghosts from his past, and may even lead to a very real haunting.
As alluded to in the trailer, Faraday has a history in Hundreds Hall, the grand estate that holds the Ayres family together. Faraday’s mother worked as a maid for the family, but an incident in Faraday’s past may be tied to the decline of the mansion and the desperate state of the remaining family members. Faraday will befriend Caroline Ayres (Ruth Wilson) and her brother Roderick (Will Poulter), a war veteran who has physical and emotional scars. Roderick’s sanity may be in question, but there is something strange happening at Hundreds Hall and it may come for them all.
The trailer shies away from jump scares or any overt ghost sightings. There’s even the implication that Roderick’s delusions may be affecting the way his family and Faraday react to the dilapidated house. But even if there aren’t literally ghosts in the mansion, the Ayres family is still haunted by their shared secrets. And some of those secrets may directly involve Faraday himself.

The Little Stranger will haunt moviegoers on Friday, August 31.
What do you think about the new trailer for The Little Stranger? Let us know in the comment section below!
Images: Focus Features
More for the spooky fan!
- We explain and discuss that super crazy ending of HereditaryOpens in a new tab!
- How the new Halloween explains how Michael Myers returned to HaddonfieldOpens in a new tab!
- There’s going to be an expanded Lovecraft universeOpens in a new tab!