Fall of the House of Usher creator reveals huge Leo Usher death detail you missed

17 October 2023, 16:02

Watch the trailer for The Fall of the House of Usher

By Katie Louise Smith

Did Leo Usher hallucinate the black cat? Mike Flanagan explains what actually happened in episode 4 of The Fall of the House of Usher.

Loading audio...

Netflix's brand new horror series The Fall of the House of Usher contains countless hidden details and easter eggs for viewers to pick up as they watch each episode – but did you manage to miss this one?

If you've watched the series already, you'll know who Verna is, and you'll know exactly how the Usher siblings die. But there's one key detail about the death of Leo Usher (Rahul Kohli) that some viewers completely missed.

Creator Mike Flanagan has taken to social media to explain what actually happened to Leo, and the significance of the previously-assumed dead character that appears alive and well at the end of episode 4.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Fall of the House of Usher episode 4!

The truth behind Leo Usher's death in The Fall of the House of Usher explained...

You probably missed this detail about Leo Usher's death in The Fall of the House of Usher. Picture: Netflix

Responding to a fan who hilariously asked him if he has a problem with cats after watching Leo's gruesome cat-related death, Mike wrote: "Okay. So... 'The Black Cat' was written by Edgar Allan Poe. In HIS version, a cat is killed. In MY version, the cat is..."

Going into spoiler-y detail about the episode, he continued: "... in MY version, the killing of the cat is revealed to be a hallucination. In MY version, the cat is alive and well. So who hates cats? :)"

Okay. So... "The Black Cat" was written by Edgar Allan Poe. In HIS version, a cat is killed. In MY version, the cat is...

(spoilers)

... in MY version, the killing of the cat is revealed to be a hallucination. In MY version, the cat is alive and well. So who hates cats? :) https://t.co/3EyukDXiYB
— Mike Flanagan (@flanaganfilm) October 12, 2023

Apparently, some fans didn't quite clock that everything that was happening to Leo was a hallucination, all conjured up by Verna in a bid to drive him to his death.

Replying to Mike's tweet, one viewer wrote: "Wait. When does it get revealed it was a hallucination?!?! I know the evil cat was a hallucination but Pluto didn’t die?"

Mike responded: "That's why we made such a big deal about the the fact that Pluto was wearing a Gucci collar, and the new cat was not. Look at the cat in the final shot of the episode, who is wearing the collar... and the empty bathtub, which means ALL of the animal violence was imagined."

That's why we made such a big deal about the the fact that Pluto was wearing a Gucci collar, and the new cat was not. Look at the cat in the final shot of the episode, who is wearing the collar... and the empty bathtub, which means ALL of the animal violence was imagined
— Mike Flanagan (@flanaganfilm) October 12, 2023

In episode 4, which details the fall of Leo Usher, we see him wake up after going on a drug-fuelled bender, only to find out he has seemingly killed his boyfriend's cat Pluto.

In a bid to cover up the cat murder, Leo then heads to a shelter to find a cat that looks identical to Pluto. Verna just so happens to be working there and lets Leo adopt the cat. He brings it home, and notes that "someone nicked the Gucci collar".

Throughout the rest of the episode, the new cat terrorises and attacks Leo, and leaves dead birds and mice around the apartment. He calls the shelter worker (a.k.a. Verna) to take the cat back, but when she arrives, she torments him further and drives him into madness as he wrecks the apartment trying to find and kill the cat.

The real Pluto can be seen alive and well at the end of The Fall of the House of Usher episode 5. Picture: Netflix

Eventually, the cat appears to Leo on the balcony and Leo falls to his death as he charges and swings for it. Leo's boyfriend Jules watches the whole thing unfold, but as the camera pans around the apartment, we see that there is no dead birds, or dead mice lying the bathtub.

And the cat that walks over Leo's dead body in the final shot of the episode, is in fact, the real Pluto, who is wearing the Gucci collar. Leo hallucinated killing him, too.