the invisible muscle

Bright new star Victoria Pedretti is poised to thrill tens of millions again — this time with The Haunting of Bly Manor.

- Mike Furey

Recently seen as Love in the Netflix hit You, Pedretti began her television career two years ago in the The Haunting of Hill House. In follow-up show Bly Manor, she plays Dani, an au pair who looks after two orphaned children in a country estate. While other cast members also return, Bly Manor is a whole new haunting based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw as well as an amalgamation of Henry James’ gothic romance tales.

Pedretti touches on a theme she hopes will inspire conversation among viewers: how love and sacrifice are often misconstrued. She says, “These children have been told that they need to sacrifice to show that they care. We teach children this in many different ways; if they have been traumatised or abused they are told that their life, their safety and love require sacrifice.” But in this story, the children are surrounded by a group of people who “reeducate and encourage them to do what is right, to do what feels good.”