50 Years Later, Mike Flanagan’s Carrie Is Restoring Something The Original Movie Left Out

Published Sep 28, 2026, 1:45 PM EDT Chris Tilly is the Deputy Movies Editor at ScreenRant, having previously worked as writer/editor/manager/presenter at the likes of IGN, Fandom, Time Out, Dexerto, and HotDog. Chris also helps program film festivals, hosted the movie podcast Clash of the Titles, and his hands briefly appear in Shaun of the Dead, while outside of work he's a huge supporter of Crystal Palace FC. Carrie was Stephen King's debut novel, and first hit shelves in 1974. The tale of a bullied High School student with telekinetic powers immediately struck a nerve with readers, and soon Hollywood was paying attention. Brian De Palma was the first director to get his hands on the material, and his 1976 adaptation is one of the greatest horror movies ever made. Sissy Spacek's Carrie is all confused sweetness and vulnerability in the film's early scenes, before transforming into a deadly force of nature during that famously shocking finale, while Piper Laurie is truly terrifying as her fanatically religious mother. A belated sequel titled The Rage followed in 1999, as did a TV movie in 2002, while Chloe Grace Moretz played Carrie in a forgettable 2013 adaptation. Now the story is heading to the small-screen courtesy of Mike Flanagan. The first two episodes of his eight-part adaptation just screened at Fantastic Fest (where star/surprise guest Matthew Lillard whipped the audience up into a frenzy), before launching on Amazon Prime Video on October 7, 2026. Flanagan – whose previous TV credits include The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of The House of Usher – has updated the story so it plays out in present-day America. But he's adapted an aspect of the material that De Palma and screenwriter Lawrence D. Cohen removed, which fundamentally changes how the story unfolds. Making Flanagan's show a worthy companion piece to that 50-year-old classic. The Major Carrie Change Made By Brian De Palma Credit: Robert Falconer/Prime Video Stephen King's novel isn't a straightforward narrative, with Carrie's story told via third-person, and through newspaper reports, book excerpts, court records, police investigations, scientific material, and testimony from survivors. Cohen and De Palma jettisoned that approach, so while we follow different characters throughout the movie, the narrative is largely conventional, and abandons those retrospective accounts. The TV movie – which was written by Hannibal mastermind Bryan Fuller – went in a different direction by framing the movie through police interviews conducted after the prom night massacre, making it more like King. While the 2013 adaptation ignored that style of storytelling, resulting in something more akin to De Palma's feature. How Mike Flanagan is Embracing Stephen King's Approach Mike Flanagan has made three Stephen King movies in the shape of Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck, all of which were relatively faithful adaptations of the source material. Based on the two Carrie episodes that we watched at Fantastic Fest, Flanagan is making some changes to the story, through the contemporary setting, and a pretty major narrative addition that we won's spoil here. But in terms of the way in which the story is told, Flanagan is very much using King's book as a template, and embracing those multiple perspectives. Episode 1 kicks off with various 911 calls as we watch images of Carrie's school gymnasium burning down, which are followed by TV interviews with her classmates – presumably for a documentary – in which each subject gives a personal take on what happened at prom, and shares their thoughts and feelings about Carietta White. As proceedings progress throughout those first two episodes, we also hear the interviewer describe events, get a police opinion on what happened, and hear a neighbor describe Carrie's early years. All of which is in-keeping with how Stephen King told the story, and sets the series apart from De Palma's masterpiece by inviting multiple perspectives on events, to give a more rounded account of that fateful night. Carrie screened at Fantastic Fest, while the show hits Prime Video on October 7, when all eight episodes will drop. Carrie Release Date 2026 - 2026-00-00 Network Prime Video Showrunner Mike Flanagan Directors Mike Flanagan, Hiromi Kamata Cast Summer H. Howell Carrie White Matthew Lillard Principal Grayle Samantha Sloyan Margaret White