It felt risky. When Nickelodeon announced they were reviving the Midnight Society for a limited series in 2019, the collective groan from 90s kids was audible. We all remembered the original—the grainy film stock, the campfire, the sheer terror of "The Tale of the Ghastly Grinner." You just don’t mess with perfection. But then the cast of Are You Afraid of the Dark 2019 actually showed up, and honestly? They kind of nailed it. They didn't just play archetypes; they played actual teenagers who felt like they belonged in a modern, slightly more cinematic version of the dark.
The 2019 reboot wasn't an anthology in the traditional sense. Instead of a new story every week, we got a serialized nightmare called "Becoming the Carnival of Doom." It followed a group of kids in the town of Argento who find themselves living out the very horror story their newest member, Rachel, wrote for her initiation.
The Midnight Society: More than just campfire fodder
Leading the pack was Lyliana Wray as Rachel Cates. She was the "new girl," a classic trope, but Wray brought this quiet, internal anxiety to the role that made the stakes feel high immediately. She wasn't just some scream queen. You could tell her character was dealing with the standard "new school" jitters on top of, you know, being hunted by a supernatural carnival. Wray has since popped up in Top Gun: Maverick, which tells you everything you need to know about her trajectory. She has that "it" factor.
Then you had Sam Ashe Arnold playing Gavin Coscarelli. He was the one who invited Rachel to the group. Gavin was sort of the emotional glue of the crew. Arnold played him with a sincerity that felt refreshing. He wasn't the "cool guy," just a kid who liked scary stories and cared about his friends. It’s that groundedness that made the supernatural elements actually feel scary. If the characters don't believe it, we don't either.
Miya Cech played Akiko Yamato. If you’ve seen Always Be My Maybe or Rim of the World, you know Cech is a powerhouse. As Akiko, she was the aspiring filmmaker, the one always holding a camera. It was a clever nod to how kids interact with the world now. Everything is documented. Cech brought a toughness to the group—she was the skeptic, the one who wanted to see the proof before she started running for her life.
Then there was Jeremy Ray Taylor as Graham Raimi. Most people recognized him immediately as Ben Hanscom from the 2017 IT movie. He’s basically a veteran of the "kids fighting monsters" genre at this point. His character, Graham, was the horror aficionado. He was the guy who knew the rules. Taylor is great at playing characters who are scared out of their wits but keep moving forward anyway. It’s a specific kind of charm.
Rounding out the main kids was Tamara Smart as Louise Fulci. Smart is a British actress (though she pulled off the accent perfectly here) who you might recognize from The Worst Witch or the Resident Evil series on Netflix. Louise was the socialite of the group, but not in a "mean girl" way. She was just... cool. Smart gave her a level-headedness that balanced out Graham’s panic and Rachel’s intensity.
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The Villain who stole the show
We have to talk about Rafael Casal.
He played Mr. Tophat, the ringmaster of the Carnival of Doom. If the kids were the heart of the show, Casal was the jagged, terrifying teeth. He was flamboyant, menacing, and strangely magnetic. Casal is a writer and performer known for Blindspotting, and he brought a high-art energy to a Nickelodeon show that it honestly didn't know it needed.
Mr. Tophat wasn't just a guy in face paint. He was a manifestation of the stories we tell ourselves. Casal’s performance was theatrical in a way that felt like a direct homage to the over-the-top villains of the original 90s run, yet he managed to make it feel contemporary. Every time he was on screen, the tension ratcheted up. He didn't just want to scare the kids; he wanted to own them.
Why this specific ensemble mattered
The cast of Are You Afraid of the Dark 2019 succeeded because they didn't feel like "child actors." They felt like a group of kids you might actually see at a suburban mall or hanging out in a basement.
The chemistry was the secret sauce.
When you look at reboots that fail, it's usually because the cast feels assembled by a marketing team trying to check boxes. Here, the camaraderie felt lived-in. When they were arguing about whether or not to investigate the woods, it felt like a real disagreement between friends, not just a way to move the plot to the next jump scare.
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A shift in tone
This version was darker than the original. Let's be real. The 90s version had its moments—the "Dead Man's Float" still gives me nightmares—but the 2019 version had a cinematic polish that required a different kind of acting. It wasn't just about reacting to a monster of the week. These actors had to carry a three-episode arc that dealt with themes of belonging, the power of imagination, and the literal blurring of reality and fiction.
The production team, including director Dean Israelite (who did the Power Rangers movie), leaned heavily into the "Amblin" vibe. Think Stranger Things or The Goonies. This required the cast to be able to handle humor and horror in the same breath. Jeremy Ray Taylor was particularly good at this. He could crack a joke about a horror trope while looking like he was about to vomit from fear. That’s a hard line to walk.
Where are they now?
It's actually pretty impressive to see where the cast of Are You Afraid of the Dark 2019 went after their time in the Midnight Society.
- Lyliana Wray: As mentioned, she moved into major blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick.
- Miya Cech: She has become a staple in sci-fi and teen drama, recently appearing in Beef and voicing characters in major animated projects.
- Tamara Smart: She’s been working steadily in big-budget genre fiction, including A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting.
- Jeremy Ray Taylor: He continues to be a go-to for coming-of-age stories and horror-adjacent projects.
- Rafael Casal: He’s expanded the Blindspotting universe into a critically acclaimed TV series and joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Loki Season 2.
The legacy of the 2019 revival
The 2019 revival proved that Are You Afraid of the Dark wasn't just a product of 90s nostalgia. It proved the format—kids telling stories to process their fears—is universal.
But it only worked because of the people in the circle.
If the cast hadn't been as talented as they were, the "Carnival of Doom" would have just felt like a cheap haunted house. Instead, it felt like a rite of passage. They paved the way for the subsequent seasons, like Curse of the Shadows and Ghost Island, which followed different casts but kept the same DNA of grounded, character-driven horror for a younger audience.
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The 2019 cast had the hardest job because they had to prove the concept could work again. They had to face the scrutiny of original fans who were ready to hate them. By the time the final credits rolled on Rachel’s story, most of those skeptics were silenced.
What to watch next if you liked them
If you enjoyed this specific cast, you should definitely check out their follow-up projects to see how they've grown as performers.
- Top Gun: Maverick (Lyliana Wray): See her hold her own in a massive summer blockbuster.
- Loki Season 2 (Rafael Casal): Watch him bring that same "Tophat" charisma to a much bigger stage.
- IT (2017) (Jeremy Ray Taylor): If for some reason you missed it, this is where he perfected the "scared kid" archetype.
- The Worst Witch (Tamara Smart): A great showcase of her earlier work and her range in the fantasy genre.
The 2019 reboot wasn't perfect, but it was effective. It understood that the monster is only scary if you care about the person it's chasing. By casting actors who brought genuine heart and distinct personalities to the Midnight Society, Nickelodeon managed to capture lightning in a bottle for the second time.
If you're looking to revisit the series, it's worth paying attention to the small character beats—the way Akiko looks through her lens, the way Gavin tries to be brave for Rachel. That’s the stuff that sticks. It’s not the CGI clowns or the jump scares; it’s the kids sitting around the fire, just trying to make it to morning.
To get the most out of your rewatch, pay close attention to the foreshadowing in Rachel's drawings during the first episode. Many of the "scares" that happen later are hidden in plain sight within her sketchbook, showing how much thought the creators and the cast put into the "meta" layers of the story. Once you finish the 2019 limited series, compare it to the "Curse of the Shadows" season to see how the show evolved its casting strategy to focus even more on interpersonal drama within the Midnight Society.