Viewers aren’t ready for all the twists and turns Mike Flanagan has in store for Carrie.
Led by Night of the Reaper‘s Summer H. Howell, the Prime Video series revolves around Carrie White, a high school teenager whose life begins to crumble following her father’s sudden passing, with her religious mother keeping her largely in seclusion from her peers. Shortly after having her first period, the young outcast finds herself unlocking latent telekinetic abilities, which she grapples to get a hold on as she navigates the emotional highs and lows of high school, including being the target of bullying.
Ahead of the show’s October 7 premiere, ComicBook.com interviewed Mike Flanagan at San Diego Comic-Con to discuss his vision for Carrie. When asked about facing audiences’ knowledge of the story thanks to multiple prior adaptations, the creator teased that “this is one of the first times in my career I can honestly say [viewers] don’t” know how it will all play out, even though “everyone thinks they do.”
Flanagan went on to acknowledge that with King’s Carrie, the fiery climax at the prom is the main thing everyone knows from the story, but teased that this show will explore the build-up to this iconic ending in a very different way from before, describing it as a “version of the prom no one’s ever seen“:
Mike Flanagan: I think what was really cool about this is that we got to build something quite new out of these expected materials, and something that would be the foundation in another adaptation … in our house is just the aluminum siding. I will say that we go to the prom because, of course we do, but it’s a version of the prom no one’s ever seen. Our prom takes us out of the gym, of course, but also takes us out into a much bigger world that I don’t think Stephen King certainly hadn’t laid the groundwork for back in the ’70s. And I think that DePalma never would have imagined for his adaptation. So it’s really exciting.
Without diving too heavily into spoilers of King’s bestselling 1974 novel, Carrie has largely burned its way into viewers’ brains over the years for its prom climax, in which a shocking twist pushes the titular character over the edge in regard to her tormentors. Every prior adaptation, beginning with Brian De Palma’s 1976 classic and followed by Angela Bettis and Chloë Grace Moretz’s divisive incarnations, saw different approaches to the explosive closure to the book, with Moretz’s modern, CGI-based sequence being one of the few things admired by critics.
Much to Flanagan’s point, the marketing thus far has already showcased a number of changes in Carrie‘s build-up to the prom scene in the miniseries. One of the most notable is the dynamic between Howell’s titular character and Alison Thornton’s Chris Hargensen, who looks to be putting up a more friendly front with Carrie before becoming one of the central antagonists, albeit may simply be part of her ultimate bullying schemes.
Additionally, Flanagan’s Carrie looks to be the second-only adaptation of King’s novel to properly showcase the immediate events after the prom sequence. Beyond a roadside confrontation with Chris and her boyfriend Billy, she embarks on a destructive tear through her small Maine town that results in the destruction of downtown and numerous other deaths, which can be briefly seen in the trailer for the new Prime Video miniseries.
Considering King’s novel has been adapted multiple times over the years, it would make sense that Flanagan would want to bring his own unique vision for Carrie as a whole, but particularly when it comes to its high-stakes ending. However, given how faithful the creator has been with every other King adaptation, particularly in merging various Shining iterations for Doctor Sleep, the miniseries is sure to still be in line with the emotional closure of the 1974 source material.
Carrie begins streaming on Prime Video on October 7.
- Release Date
-
2026 – 2026-00-00
- Network
-
Prime Video
-
Summer H. Howell
Carrie White
-
Matthew Lillard
Principal Grayle
-
-
Samantha Sloyan
Margaret White