52 Years On, 2026’s New Adaptation of Stephen King’s First Novel Reveals How Different It Will Be From the Others

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Mike Flanagan is a writer and director known for taking on projects that initially seem risky or even ill-advised. Remarkably, he consistently succeeds, exceeding expectations and winning over audiences. He proved this after the lackluster reception of the Ouija movie, and continued to do so with his adaptations of Stephen King’s work. He tackled Gerald’s Game, a novel many thought couldn’t be made into a film, and then surpassed himself with Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining. He continued this trend last year with The Life of Chuck. Flanagan clearly has a knack for turning questionable concepts into captivating stories.

I’m really excited about Mike Flanagan’s next project, a miniseries based on Stephen King’s Carrie. It’s interesting because he’s tackled stories that seemed risky before and always delivered, but a lot of fans – myself included at first – were wondering why he’d revisit a story that’s already been made into a movie three times. I listened to an interview with him on Flanagan’s Wake podcast, and he explained how he came to this project. He also hinted that his version of Carrie is going to be very different from anything we’ve seen before, which has me even more intrigued!

Mike Flanagan’s Carrie Will Modernize the Story in Unique Ways

For those familiar with Stephen King’s work, Carrie was his debut novel, released in 1974. It was quickly adapted into a successful film by Brian De Palma in 1976. Since then, Carrie has been retold several times, including in a 2002 TV movie and a 2013 remake, all following a similar storyline: a shy, isolated girl discovers she has supernatural powers after a terrible experience, all while dealing with high school bullying and a difficult home life.

Flanagan started discussing the upcoming Carrie series, starring Summer H. Howell in the lead role, by acknowledging that the initial reaction to him adapting Stephen King’s first novel was completely understandable – he felt the same way himself! He explained that Carrie wasn’t a project he originally planned, but Prime Video approached him with the idea, asking if he had a unique vision for it. He then shared the idea with Stephen King, who, like many others, was initially surprised to hear about a new adaptation.

I wasn’t going to work on a King project unless he was excited about it too,” Flanagan explained. “But I kept thinking about Carrie and imagining different ways to tell the story. I realized there was a fresh angle that hadn’t been explored before. The core themes of the story, even though it’s over fifty years old, feel incredibly relevant today, especially when you consider what teenagers face with social media, bullying, and how those experiences impact both their lives and society as a whole.

He explained that the image of Carrie White going through a metal detector on her first day of high school really stuck with him. He later discovered several recent, real-life incidents in American high schools that mirrored this scene, despite not being part of the original story or any previous adaptations.

Flanagan explained that his approach to the upcoming Carrie adaptation is similar to how he handled Edgar Allan Poe’s work in Netflix’s The Fall of the House of Usher. He’s taking the core ideas from the original story and updating them for a modern audience, while still honoring the famous and recognizable imagery.

He wondered if they could tell a modern story using well-known characters and themes, even if those themes felt overdone. The only solution, he thought, was to completely reimagine them. This idea unexpectedly energized him, and he shared his vision with Steve, admitting they were all probably tired of seeing another Carrie adaptation. He proposed they create something fresh instead. He wrote a detailed outline of the season and presented it to Steve, who loved it, and that’s how the project began.

What really struck me about this new take on ‘Carrie’ is how deeply it understands the original story’s roots. Director Flanagan explained it beautifully – they’ve stayed true to the core ideas that inspired Stephen King when he first created these characters, looking at things through the lens of his own experiences as a teacher. But it’s not just a retread of what we’ve seen before. This Carrie White is completely fresh – you won’t recognize her from any previous adaptation, and honestly, that’s a huge part of what makes it so compelling.

I’m really anticipating the upcoming Carrie series on Prime Video, though they haven’t given us a firm release date just yet – they’re saying sometime this year. What’s exciting is seeing so many actors I already love from Mike Flanagan’s previous work joining the cast. Samantha Sloyan is taking on the role of Margaret White, and we’ll also see appearances from Matthew Lillard, Kate Siegel, and Rahul Kohli, which is fantastic news!

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2026-02-04 00:40