Mike Flanagan’s Carrie Series Reimagines Stephen King in a Tech-Driven 2020s Setting
Mike Flanagan’s upcoming Carrie series is getting its first look, with early images and key details revealing that the adaptation is set to arrive on Prime Video this fall.
The standout information so far: this new eight-episode take on Stephen King’s horror novel is set in the present day, and it leans into how teen life is shaped by technology. The premise also suggests Carrie won’t be the only person with supernatural abilities—each episode will spotlight a new character with a distinct power. And while the series is still built around Carrie’s notorious, blood-soaked prom moment from Brian De Palma’s 1976 film, that scene is expected to unfold in a noticeably different way.
Here’s the official description:
“Misfit high-school student Carrie White (Summer Howell) has spent her life tucked away behind the walls of her home, sheltered by her fiercely protective mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). After her father’s sudden and untimely death forces Carrie into the harsh world of public high school, she’s pulled into a viral bullying crisis that spreads through her community. The story also tracks the relentless strain and everyday meanness of the social-media era, alongside the emergence of strange telekinetic powers that grow more powerful as Carrie does.”
Carrie Prime Video – First Look Photos
Flanagan—known for Netflix horror series The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass, plus his adaptation of King’s 2020 novella The Life of Chuck into a film starring Tom Hiddleston—explained that the biggest hurdle wasn’t shrinking the material, but widening it for a television format.
“De Palma adapted it faithfully and beautifully 50 years ago,” Flanagan said. “After that, it’s been adapted twice—one officially, one unofficially. It’s been copied and remixed countless times. For me, that meant this could never be a simple retelling. The only real approach was to create something new using the building blocks of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s no point trying to walk ground that’s already been covered so well.”
The series will still bring back recognizable characters and the story’s major touchstones, including the high-school bathroom sequence and, of course, the prom. But Flanagan emphasized that the show will reach those beats through a different path. “We’re getting there in a completely different way, and the prom events are going to be completely different,” he said. “That’s a wonderfully tempting opening for anyone who loves adapting stories.”
It also sounds like Flanagan intends to expand the mythos beyond the original setup, including Carrie’s role in a broader “universe” and the “TK gene” she carries. “She’s part of a sisterhood of extremely gifted women—she just doesn’t realize it,” Flanagan explained. “The book clearly points toward that, and that was something we could take and build on.”
With that in mind, the structure is set to shift starting from the second episode. Each installment will begin with its own standalone story, featuring a woman in a different part of the world who is discovering her powers. “Carrie’s exact position within that group of gifted women is part of the real pleasure we’ll uncover across the season,” Flanagan teased.
Because De Palma’s original Carrie is widely regarded as one of the best horror films ever made—and because no later adaptation or follow-up has managed to top it—it’ll be interesting to see whether Flanagan’s version can stand up to that legacy. What’s already clear, though, is that this Carrie is aiming to be its own thing.
Image credit: Robert Falconer/Prime.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
