Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Prime Video’s Carrie.A curious and eager teenage girl approaches her prom night with anxiety and hope on the arm of a popular classmate. After years of bullying and being ignored, she wonders if she’s finally made it, and if her future looks brighter. When she’s crowned queen, she’s shocked yet excited — but then a bucket of pig’s blood is dumped on her head.
The iconic scene from Stephen King‘s Carrie is one of his most famous, and it was hard to wait to see Mike Flanagan‘s Prime Video thriller series adaptation of this classic story. All eight episodes of Carrie Season 1 were released on Oct. 7, 2026. As a long-time follower of Mike Flanagan’s work, I was hopeful that his TV version of Carrie would include complicated characters. Not only is it a standout series and further proof of Flanagan’s talents, but it’s also an almost perfect adaptation of King’s bestselling novel.
Mike Flanagan’s ‘Carrie’ Makes Both Carrie and Margaret White More Complex
Thankfully, both Carrie (Summer H. Howell) and Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan) are much more fleshed out and well-rounded in this version of the story. In both the 1976 and 2013 movies, Margaret’s obsession with religion is her sole characteristic. Stephen King’s novel suggests more complexity, as she feels guilty over every emotion and hope, but we don’t get to know her all that well even on the page. Flanagan’s adaptation helps us understand Margaret better by exploring her anxiety over the modern world, belief in conspiracies, and distrust in the media, the education system, and pretty much everything else. Trying to be in control can become an obsession, and it’s harmful to Margaret’s mental health.
In one perfect scene, Margaret insults a customer at the grocery store where she works as a cashier, saying that if she loved her children she wouldn’t buy processed food full of “chemicals.” This Margaret may be religious, but we get the sense it’s because she fears for her safety. Her trauma over losing her husband is also explored a bit more. When she becomes a famous social media crusader, it makes perfect sense.
Carrie herself is chattier and more confident than Sissy Spacek’s version. She shares literary quotes and enjoys attending her first party. Rather than focusing solely on her self-pity, we watch her become part of the world. Key elements — her discovery of her powers and the gym class bullying — are still here, but she’s also more interesting and intelligent.
The addition of social media in Carrie Season 1, including the Carrie Red account, also makes Carrie more relatable. Not everyone has a strict parent who doesn’t let them experience the world, but many young people feel alone at school and when browsing social media at home.
‘Carrie’ Changes Stephen King’s Ending For the Better
I first watched Brian De Palma’s Carrie adaptation when I was 11, and recently rewatched it in anticipation of the Prime Video series. While I was too young to note any changes to Stephen King’s bestselling novel, one thing stood out to me upon revisiting the movie: Mike Flanagan’s ending is much stronger and more compelling.
Although she dies in both the novel and the 1976 movie, Flanagan decided that Carrie should live at the end of Carrie Season 1. In contrast, the film’s ending is too corny, as Sue Snell (Amy Irving) has a bad dream that Carrie is still alive. That’s more about Sue’s guilt over mistreating Carrie than about the character herself.
The final scene of Emaline (Thalia Dudek) and Carrie driving away from Chamberlain, Maine, is filled with beauty and pain. It gets to the heart of King’s ending and finally gives Carrie the opportunity to have new experiences. King’s final pages include a section from a book called The Shadow Exploded about whether people can “treat” or “isolate” the TK gene, which suggests harm could be done to the children who have it. The White Commission Report also shares Sue’s testimony: “Carrie was dying when I found her. It could not have been an easy way to die.”
In King’s book, we hear Carrie’s thoughts as she dies, repeating the word “momma” and feeling desperate for her mother’s love. It’s tragic to imagine all of Carrie’s lost opportunities for happiness and a regular life. Emaline is clearly thinking about this when she says:
“That’s the world, and it belongs to you.”
Carrie replies, “It’s my world,” and Emaline asks:
“Where do you want to go?”
If Carrie Season 2 happens, focusing more on Amanda (Katee Sackhoff) and the others who have powers will also maintain the integrity of King’s original story. After all, the final section is a letter that Amelia Jenks writes to her sister Sandra about her toddler daughter Annie, who seems to have the same TK powers as Carrie. Flanagan’s version captures the big dreams she didn’t even know that she had.
- Release Date
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2026 – 2026-00-00
- Network
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Prime Video
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Summer H. Howell
Carrie White
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Samantha Sloyan
Margaret White
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Alison Thornton
Chris Hargensen
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
