Carrie

50 years ago, the first-ever adaptation of a Stephen King novel saw the light of day, and despite the countless projects that followed, Brian De Palma’s Carrie remains among the very best. In short: with his series adaptation of the same source material, King’s most recent go-to director, Mike Flanagan, has a lot to live up to. Carrie (2026) is the fifth iteration of the material, if one counts 1999’s legacy sequel The Rage: Carrie 2, which had little to do with the book, but found a smart loophole in the 1976 film to continue Carrie’s tale of revenge via an illegitimate half-sister confronting the sexual politics of high school.

While previous versions introduced Carrie as already ground down by years of abuse, this take finds the teenager (Summer H Howell) fresh-faced and wide-eyed on her first day at Ewen High, having been homeschooled until now. Rather than serving as her defining humiliation, the infamous locker-room incident is presented as one of many moments that underscore how different the young girl is from her peers – and how determined they are to let her know it.

And yet Howell’s Carrie isn’t exactly the type of girl King once described in his foreword as someone whose otherness radiates on a wavelength only other kids can pick up. Flanagan made her substantially younger than most of her classmates, as if to relativise her naïveté and first menstruation. It makes the teasing and hazing she undergoes almost too arbitrary. Meanwhile, King forced his readers to confront a disturbing truth: many could easily find themselves on either side of this scenario. The comfort of belonging is sometimes bought at the cost of excluding others.

Overall, the show-runner consequently follows the idea of what this well-known story about the bullied telekinetic would look like transplanted into 2026 – complete with school shootings and rage-bait social media. As a result, some characters are barely recognisable upon first glance. Margaret White has been depicted as a Bible-thumping antagonist or conflicted mother in the past, yet she is particularly difficult to grasp in this version, where she goes from submissive housewife to zealous agent of online toxicity. Billy Nolan is no longer the greaser immortalised by John Travolta, but an oddly Penn Badgley-coded weedy little figure. Performance-wise, Matthew Lillard surprises as the excellently overwhelmed school principal, while Alison Thornton embodies the most intricate ringleader (Chris Hargensen) to date.

Easter eggs connect the series to previous Carrie adaptations as well as other works in King’s expansive universe. Echoing some of his choices with Doctor Sleep, Flanagan seems to consider the previous iterations equally worthy of King’s written word and makes space for it all in his version. The strong presence of female writers and directors brings a respectful distinction to the show’s coming-of-age narrative that has been predominantly framed through a male lens.

There are developments in the show, which are likely to stir some controversy; however, disregarding those, Carrie is a retelling that more than earns its place. The fact that Flanagan finds his very own focal points in his approach – even some previously undiscovered – in one of King’s most compact novels speaks to the filmmaker’s sharp eye and understanding of the realm in which he operates. A sound blend of teenage angst, mob mentality and paranormal experimentation, Carrie offers a fantastic start into 2026’s spooky season.

Selina Sondermann

Carrie is released on Prime Video on 7^th October 2026.

Watch the trailer for Carrie here: