Sirens: The symbolic meaning behind that never-ending staircase to the Cliff House

Sirens is one of those shows that doesn’t hand you anything on a silver platter. It wraps it in mystery, myth, and metaphor, and asks you to feel your way through it. The show is about two long-estranged sisters who find themselves drawn back together on a dreamy, almost otherworldly island that seems too beautiful to be real.

Everything is saturated with color. There are lush trees, vivid skies, and crystal waters. But the brighter it all appears, the more you sense something dark underneath. And right at the center of it all is the Kell household. The mansion is perched on a cliff.

There’s Peter Kell, whose first wife mysteriously vanished without a trace. And there were rumors through the island that his second wife, the unnervingly composed Michaela Kell, had something to do with it. But, of course, the truth is something else.

Sirens play with your mind and lead you to believe Michaela is the monster. It makes you believe that she is leading a cult. But everything changes when the truth is finally revealed.

Every element in Sirens is steeped in symbolism. Even the long, winding staircase that leads up to the Kell house is designed to mean something. So, let us take a closer look at that staircase.

Sirens: The staircase and the truth beneath the cliff

The winding staircase leading up to the Cliff House is more than just a set piece. And when you remember that Sirens draws heavily from Greek mythology, the symbolism feels deeper.

In mythology, sirens were these alluring female creatures who lived on rocky islands, singing hypnotic songs so that sailors couldn’t resist. They would crash their ships chasing the sound. But Netflix's Sirens is more about survival, pain, and the complexity of female identity in a world that loves to blame women for everything.

Every woman in the show, Michaela, Simone, and Devon, is shaped by trauma. They're not monsters or villains. They’re survivors. Even Michaela is revealed to be someone carrying the weight of protecting others.

The show makes you question your instincts. It makes you rethink who you believe, who you trust, and why women are so often the ones painted as dangerous just for trying to hold their lives together.

And then, there's the location itself that's haunting, beautiful, and symbolic to the core. Director Nicole Kassell, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, explained about the stairs leading up to the Cliff House:

"Well, most important to finding that location was that staircase. That’s a real staircase. That symbolism was so important to Molly, that everything about this world is people social climbing and class and status. So we started by looking for a house on a cliff with a gigantic staircase. And when we found it, we couldn’t believe it. We had to enhance it a bit, but that layout was truly there. The idea is sirens live on a rocky island and call to their sailors so that aesthetic was essential. It really is a symbolism of class status, that the wealth lauds over all other beings."

The staircase becomes a literal and figurative climb. It's a symbol of social hierarchy and power dynamics.

The characters in the show are constantly trying to rise above something. Be it trauma, fear, isolation, or literal poverty. The physical act of walking up the long staircase becomes a metaphor for trying to climb socially or emotionally to reach a place of safety or superiority.

The Cliff House, sitting high above everything else, represents privilege. It is a world removed from the suffering below. And that staircase acts as the barrier between the two. Only some people get to climb it and stay at the top.

Michaela at the beginning and Simone at the end, both standing at the cliff’s edge, are simply continuing a cycle. One where women rise, fall, and carry others along the way. All of this as the world watches from below without quite understanding the storm that shaped them.

This is nothing but storytelling in architecture in Sirens.

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