Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- Tech Advisor reports that Mike Flanagan is adapting Stephen King’s “Carrie” as a modern TV series for Amazon Prime, marking his first project after leaving Netflix.
- The show features Summer H. Howell as Carrie White and incorporates contemporary elements like social media to explore bullying and telekinetic powers in a present-day setting.
- This represents the first television series adaptation of the classic novel, following previous film adaptations including the acclaimed 1976 version starring Sissy Spacek.
After parting ways with Netflix, Mike Flanagan has joined forces with Amazon. The first outcome of this partnership will be Carrie, a series adaptation of Stephen King’s 1970s’ novel.
Over the past few years, Flanagan has become one of the most influential modern horror filmmakers. His collaboration with Netflix began with the slasher Hush, followed by the thriller Gerald’s Game. After that, Flanagan released two series that made up the highly-acclaimed “Haunting anthology”: The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, loosely adapting Gothic novellas by Shirley Jackson and Henry James.
The miniseries Midnight Mass, based on an original concept by the filmmaker, was also warmly received. The Midnight Club, a show aimed at teenagers, was less successful and was axed by Netflix after just one season. His last project for Netflix was The Fall of the House of Usher, a miniseries mingling and referencing various works by Edgar Allan Poe.
Beyond his collaboration with the streaming giant, the American filmmaker also directed the sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and most recently, The Life of Chuck, starring Tom Hiddleston and Mark Hamill.
Carrie will be Mike Flanagan’s next project, and it’s also based on the work of Stephen King. As the showrunner, writer, co-executive producer and director of some episodes, he will have almost complete creative control over the series. Here’s what to expect from this new adaptation of King’s famous novel.
When will the Carrie series be released?
While filming wrapped in October 2025, the release date remains unknown. According to Katee Sackhoff, who stars, it will premiere around October 2026. Amazon hasn’t yet confirmed the news but a late-autumn release makes sense – Carrie will make a perfect spooky show for Halloween viewing.
The series will consist of eight episodes.
What will the plot of Carrie be?
The series, created by Mike Flanagan, is an adaptation Stephen King’s novel. It tells the story of Carrie White, a teenage girl bullied by her schoolmates and abused by her devoutly religious mother, Margaret. After getting her first period in traumatic circumstances, Carrie starts to master her supernatural abilities.
The novel deals with topics of bullying and social exclusion, as well as religious fundamentalism and female rage.
The series will be set in the present day. Social media, which plays a major role in modern forms of bullying, will feature prominently. According to Matthew Lillard, who plays the principal of Carrie’s school, Flanagan incorporates real-life cases of peer bullying into the plot:
[Flanagan] went back, pulled out other elements from the book, then took real-life examples of what’s happening with bullying in America and applied them to this new adaptation. [He is] literally ripping things from the headlines and applying them to modern day so that people can relate to what Carrie’s going through.
The issue of bullying was recently addressed in the miniseries Adolescence, which explores, among other topics, the entanglement of today’s teenagers with social media and the manosphere. Mike Flanagan faces a major challenge in measuring up to this show.
Amazon describes its series adaptation as a:
bold and timely reimagining of the story of misfit high-schooler Carrie White, who has spent her life in seclusion with her domineering mother. After her father’s sudden and untimely death, Carrie finds herself contending with the alien landscape of public High School, a bullying scandal that shatters her community, and the emergence of mysterious telekinetic powers.
Is Mike Flanagan’s series the first adaptation of Carrie?
No. The novel was adapted several times but never as a TV series. The first and most renowned adaptation is a 1976 movie directed by Brian De Palma, with Carrie famously portrayed by Sissy Spacek. A 1999 follow-up, The Rage: Carrie 2, tells the story of Carrie’s half-sister, and was met with mixed reviews.
A TV movie adaptation of King’s novel premiered in 2002 and was panned by viewers and critics alike. Then a 2013 cinematic release, featuring Chloë Grace Moretz as Carrie, wasn’t successful either.
A musical adaptation from 1988 also was a huge disappointment – it went down in history as one of the biggest flops in Broadway theatre.
Who is in the cast of Carrie?
Mike Flanagan is known for working with the same set of actors on various productions. So, Carrie will feature several faces that you may recognise from his previous films and series.
Summer H. Howell, known mainly for horror productions such as Cult of Chucky and Time Cut, will play Carrie White. Her abusive mother, Margaret White, will be portrayed by Samantha Sloyan, who previously appeared in Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Siena Agudong, best known from F9 and Netflix’s Resident Evil series, will star as bully-turned-friend Sue Snell.
Principal Grayle will be played by Matthew Lillard, reuniting with Flanagan after starring in The Life of Chuck, a film adaptation of another Stephen King story.
The series cast also includes:
- Joel Oulette (Here) as Tommy, Ross, Sue’s boyfriend
- Amber Midthunder (Avatar: The Last Airbender) as Miss Desjardin, Carrie’s gym teacher
- Alison Thornton (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) as Chris Hargensen, a leader of the girls who bully Carrie
- Josie Totah (The Buccaneers) as Tina, Chris’ best friend
- Arthur Conti (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) as Billy, Chris’s rogue boyfriend
- Thalia Dudek as Emaline
- Michael Trucco
- Heather Graham
- Tim Bagley
- Tahmoh Pinkett
- Mapuana Makia
- Rowan Danielle
- Naika Toussaint
- Delainey Hayles
- Cassandra Naud
The series will also feature Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, Katee Sackhoff, Crystal Balint and Danielle Klaudt.
