The Midnight Club ending explained: Who is Dr Georgina Stanton?
The final scene will leave jaws on the floor – here's what it means. *SPOILERS FOR THE MIDNIGHT CLUB*
Mike Flanagan's The Midnight Club seemed to be coming to a poignant, understated ending in the season finale, until a last-minute twist took it back to its shocking horror genre roots.
Not only does this bombshell final scene raise questions about the potential for season 2, but it could also leave some fans scratching their heads about the identity of Brightcliffe hospice founder Dr Georgina Stanton (Heather Langenkamp).
In this article, you'll find our full breakdown of what is really going on in The Midnight Club, including Dr Stanton's connection to the nightmarish death cult known as The Paragon.
Read on for details, but beware – full spoilers follow from this point.
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The Midnight Club ending explained
The Midnight Club season 1 ended on a shocking cliffhanger, as it was revealed that Dr Georgia Stanton possibly isn't the philanthropic soul she had been depicted as across the show's run. In the final scene, we see her in her private quarters, where she rips off her hair – secretly a wig all along – to reveal that she has an hourglass tattoo on the back of her neck; an unmistakable symbol of historic death cult, The Paragon.
Who is Dr Georgina Stanton really?
It takes some piecing together, but it appears that Dr Georgina Stanton is actually the daughter of Paragon founder Regina Ballard, who infamously staged a ritual in 1940 that cost the lives of 12 members of her collective. The aim of the sacrificial ceremony was to extend her life, but in a flashback in the season finale, this is revealed not to have worked.
Regina laments to Julia Jayne, a terminally ill girl who tracks her down, that she was "so close" and "undone" by her own flesh and blood. She is referring to the actions of her daughter, known only by the pseudonym Athena, who called the police on the Paragon and helped its youngest members escape on the night of her mother's sickening sermon.
Nobody knew what became of Athena after that night as her real name was not on public record, but she left a diary behind that was taken to heart by Julia in the '60s and Ilonka in the '90s – both of whom are terminally ill young women desperate to make a recovery and finding hope in the extreme beliefs that The Paragon held.
The cult's tragic end took place in the year 1940, as shown on newspaper clippings about the incident, which suggests that perhaps the ritual did work – just not in the way Regina had intended. It's possible that the long life she wanted for herself actually passed to her daughter, potentially in reward for her selfless actions on the night of the ritual.
This would explain why Dr Stanton (aka Athena), who we learn in flashback was born in 1924, is in her mid-50s when we meet her in The Midnight Club, whereas she should actually be in her 70s at that time.
How did the ballet statue get fixed?
There is further evidence that The Paragon's rituals do actually work, albeit in unexpected ways, as we see that the ballerina statue once owned by the late Anya (Ruth Codd) is mysteriously fixed in the season finale.
One leg had snapped off the figure many years ago when she hurled it at her estranged friend Rhett during a fiery argument, which ironically was the same leg Anya herself would lose after suffering a gunshot wound not long after.
When Rhett comes to collect Anya's belongings after stumbling on her obituary, he is shocked to find that not only is the statue repaired, but that it looks almost brand new – going so far as to assume it's an identical replacement.
The scene seems to imply that the Paragon-inspired ritual Ilonka and the rest of the Midnight Club performed in a bid to save Anya's life did manifest some power, but not enough to restore their rapidly ailing friend.
Who are the Brightcliffe hospice ghosts?
In the final scene, it is also hinted that the ghoulish figures walking the corridors of Brightcliffe hospice are the initial owners of the property: industrialists Stanley Oscar Freelan and his wife, Vera.
However, it's unclear exactly why their attention is so focused on Ilonka and Kevin, while the other members of the Midnight Club experienced no nasty encounters with their restless spirits.
A mystery to be tackled in a second season? Fingers crossed!
The Midnight Club is available to stream on Netflix from Friday 7th October 2022. Sign up for Netflix from £6.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what's on tonight.
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Authors
David Craig is the Senior Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest and greatest scripted drama and comedy across television and streaming. Previously, he worked at Starburst Magazine, presented The Winter King Podcast for ITVX and studied Journalism at the University of Sheffield.
