The finale of Midnight Mass saw nearly all of the townspeople turn into blood-sucking vampires, with the notable exception of the vampiric Flynns, who didn’t need to drink blood. Midnight Mass follows a small religious community on Crockett Island, who see profound miracles and changes once a young priest arrives to take over for the “sick” Monsignor Pruitt. It’s later revealed that the new priest actually is a young Monsignor John Pruitt (Hamish Linklater), who grew young due to drinking the blood of the mysterious vampire that Midnight Mass characters call an “angel.”

After John Pruitt was killed by poison and is resurrected as a vampire moments later, it was discovered that drinking the blood before dying will give the parishioners eternal life (that was, unless they go into the sunlight). Monsignor Pruitt and Bev Keane (Samantha Sloyan) devised to gather most of Crockett Island in church for Easter’s midnight mass, encouraging the parishioners to drink poison after having drunk the vampiric blood for communion. Many Midnight Mass characters did so, dying before they resurrect as vampires and feed on the blood of those standing next to them in church. As the night progressed, the vampires ravaged the island by burning down homes and drinking the blood of anyone left, even turning a few more into vampires along the way.

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Almost every Midnight Mass character who turned into a vampire killed others and drank their blood, with the notable exceptions of Ed (Henry Thomas) and Annie Flynn (Kristin Lehman). Their son Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) was the second character to become a vampire, having been attacked by the monster. Riley felt the need to drink as he visualized the blood coursing in his loved ones’ veins, but he never did. The same happened to his parents, where the vampiric Ed simply wandered around town, and the vampiric Annie only searched for Ed – never drinking blood. The reason the Flynns never drink anyone’s blood was because of their heightened willpower after what happened with Riley’s alcoholism and drunk driving accident.

Riley learned not to avoid drinking after his imprisonment and time in Alcoholics Anonymous, while his family all vowed not to drink alcohol (besides communion) after Riley’s arrest. When Warren Flynn’s (Igby Rigney) friends went to Midnight Mass‘s cat-infested Uppards to drink and smoke in episode 1, Warren refused to drink, even at an age when peer pressure was high. Riley even understood that there’s a possibility he could fall into his old ways and relapse, in a way, by attacking someone to drink their blood. He chose to die by exposure to sunlight, trying to save his family and town before he could possibly harm them any further. The Flynns all stuck to who they truly were by not drinking and comprising themselves, even when the urges were at their strongest.

The need for all of the characters to drink blood could be likened to the need to imbibe, with both being products of temptation and lowered willpower. Monsignor Pruitt was clearly corruptible and lacked control, as seen by his putting the town in danger with the vampire in order to save Sarah (Annabeth Gish) and Mildred Gunning (Alex Essoe), and followed that up by killing Joe Collie (Robert Longstreet) and drinking his blood. The Flynns, on the other hand, had learned to control their urges over the past four years from dealing with the consequences of Riley’s alcoholism. When the vampiric Ed and Annie met again in Midnight Mass’s ending, they both revealed they never drank blood because turning “doesn’t change who you are.” The Flynns already had the willpower to resist the temptation beforehand even if they would “need” the blood to survive, while others in town were more susceptible to submitting to their bloodthirsty urges.

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Jordan Williams
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Jordan Williams is a Movie/TV Feature Senior Staff Writer for Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon in 2020 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies.

Jordan is based in Seattle, Washington and enjoys exploring the natural beauty the PNW has to offer. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having watched every film on AFI’s 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

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