Carrie

Premise

Carrie is described as a reimagining of the story of misfit high schooler Carrie White (Summer H. Howell), who has spent her life in seclusion with her domineering mother (Samantha Sloyan). After her father’s sudden death, Carrie finds herself contending with the challenges of attending high school, a bullying scandal, and the emergence of mysterious telekinetic powers.

Cast and characters

Main

Summer H. Howell as Carietta "Carrie" White, a meek and socially inept teenager who uses her newfound telekinesis to exact vengeance on her bullies

Juliet Rose Foley as young Carrie

Samantha Sloyan as Margaret White, Carrie's overprotective mother

Theo Flanagan as young Margaret

Siena Agudong as Susan "Sue" Snell, a popular student who experiences remorse for partaking in Carrie's bullying

Alison Thornton as Christine "Chris" Hargensen, the ringleader of a pack of mean girls who bullies Carrie

Joel Oulette as Thomas "Tommy" Ross, Sue's goodhearted boyfriend

Josie Totah as Christina "Tina" Blake, Chris' best friend

Arthur Conti as William "Billy" Nolan, Chris' juvenile delinquent boyfriend

Thalia Dudek as Emaline West, Carrie's new friend

Amber Midthunder as Ms. Rita Desjardin, Carrie's physical education teacher

Matthew Lillard as Henry Grayle, the principal of Thomas Ewen Consolidated High School

Recurring

Kate Siegel as Adelaide, a cult leader

Michael Trucco as John Hargensen, Chris' lawyer father

Katee Sackhoff as Amanda West, Emaline's mother, and a hunter who seeks to eliminate women with supernatural abilities.

Rahul Kohli as Seth Peist, Carrie's English teacher

Tim Bagley as Peter Morton, the guidance counselor of Ewen High School

Heather Graham as Madison Hargensen, Chris' mother and John's ex-wife

Tahmoh Penikett as Ralph White, Margaret's husband and Carrie's late father

Crystal Balint as Nancy Piper, a social worker

Danielle Klaudt as Joanie

Mapuana Makia as Eleanor Snell, Sue's mother

Rowan Danielle as Brooklyn Kirby, Kent's daughter

Naika Toussaint as Stella Horan, Carrie's neighbor

Ruth Codd as Cara, a cultist

Delainey Hayles as Caitlin, a cultist who detects Carrie's presence

Cassandra Naud as Sable, a cultist

Gil Bellows as Kent Kirby, Madison's new boyfriend and Brooklyn's father

Olive Abercrombie as Abby

Production

Development

In December 2022, Mike Flanagan signed a first-look overall TV deal with Amazon Studios. Upon striking the deal, Flanagan immediately tried to launch a televised adaptation of Stephen King's novel series The Dark Tower, a passion project of his he had discussed repeatedly over the years, but Flanagan found the project "one of the most complicated properties to get started" because getting its greenlight was a much longer and involved process than anything he had ever approached in his life, but then Amazon brought to him the idea to launch their partnership with an adaptation of King's novel Carrie (1974), with Flanagan proposing a new take that excited even King, leading him to assemble his frequent collaborators to do so. In October 2024, it was announced that Flanagan's first project under that deal would be a new adaptation of King's Carrie novel, in the form of an eight episode miniseries, at Amazon Prime Video. A writers' room was launched to flesh out the story. Flanagan had previously helmed adaptations of King's novels including Gerald's Game (2017), Doctor Sleep (2019), and The Life of Chuck (2024). Around this time, Flanagan pitched the DC Universe (DCU) film Clayface (2026) to James Gunn and Peter Safran for DC Studios, which he developed and wrote, but when it came time to start production on it, Flanagan was unavailable to direct it due to his commitments to Carrie and The Exorcist: Martyrs (2027), resulting in James Watkins being hired instead. Flanagan served as writer and showrunner on the series, in addition to directing four episodes. King also executive produces the series.

Writing

Due to the original Carrie novel being one of King's shortest books, Flanagan expanded the story to suit a long-form series format. Flanagan acknowledged previous Carrie adaptations, including Brian De Palma's 1976 film and the 2013 film, but instead of revisiting familiar narrative ground, he sought to build something new out of the story's ingredients. He envisioned Carrie as being a three-season show.

Flanagan chose to emphasize the novel's themes of bullying, school violence, and kindness versus cruelty due to society's changing relationship with technology and the increased degree of school violence in the United States in the decades since the novel was published. Flanagan further built out from the book's mythology and featured the chapters including panicked 911 calls, police reports, courtroom testimonies, and scientific investigations that attempted to explain Carrie's phenomenon, which implied Carrie was part of a sorority of very gifted women who had telekinetic powers. Flanagan opted to run with that plot point starting from the first episode, depicting a different, unique story of a different woman somewhere in the world coming to terms with her abilities while Carrie finds her specific place among them over the season.

Unlike previous versions, Flanagan's version of Carrie White has spent her life hidden away at home with her mother Margaret, with the state unaware of their existence until the sudden death of Carrie's father and Margaret's husband Ralph, forcing a spotlight onto their household that prompts Carrie to enter public school for the first time in her life. In addition, he added new aspects to the story's principal characters. Whereas De Palma's Carrie was a "clenched fist who's absolutely shaking out there in the world", Flanagan's Carrie is "wide open", "eager", "curious" and "earnest", walking into her teenage years without any sense of danger but with the innate trust in people and goodness. Instead of portraying Margaret White as the tyrannical parental abuser of King's novel and De Palma's film, Flanagan chose to emphasize Margaret's love for her daughter and need to protect her from the world's dangers. Despite the changes to the original novel, Flanagan confirmed that core events and characters will be mantained, such as Chris Hargensen, Sue Snell, Tommy Ross, Billy Nolan, and Rita Desjardin, as well as the period scene at the bathroom and the Black Prom. A new character introduced in Flanagan's version is Emaline.

Casting

Over 1,400 actresses auditioned for the lead role of Carrie White in what Flanagan described as one of the biggest casting searches of his career. During auditions, many of the candidates attempted to emulate Sissy Spacek's performance from the 1976 film, despite the production team's desire to avoid similarities. Summer H. Howell's performance impressed the team so much that she was cast, despite her physical similarities to Spacek at the time. In April 2025, Howell was reported to be in talks to join as Carrie, and that Siena Agudong was cast as Sue Snell. Howell first spoke with Flanagan on April Fools' Day, believing that it was a prank with a fake job offer. In May, Matthew Lillard was in talks to join the series in an undisclosed role and Howell was officially cast as Carrie.

In June, Lillard was confirmed to join the series, alongside Samantha Sloyan, Alison Thornton, Thalia Dudek, Amber Midthunder, Josie Totah, Arthur Conti, Joel Oulette, Kate Siegel, Michael Trucco, Katee Sackhoff, Rahul Kohli, Tim Bagley, Heather Graham, Tahmoh Penikett, Crystal Balint, Danielle Klaudt, Mapuana Makia, Rowan Danielle, Naika Toussaint, Delainey Hayles and Cassandra Naud. Flanagan wrote Margaret's role specifically for Sloyan, deeming it "the part she was born to play." Thalia Dudek also joined the cast as new character Emaline.

Filming

Principal photography began in Vancouver on June 16, 2025, and concluded on October 25, 2025.

Music

On July 13, 2026, the Newton Brothers was announced to compose the series. The series soundtrack album was released on October 7, 2026 by Milan Records. Singer Ruelle performed the song "Slow Motion Memory Fade" was released as a single on October 1, 2026. It was featured in the first and last episodes of the series, with an orchestral versions of the song by the Newton Brothers appeared in the soundtrack. The alt-pop duo Haute and Freddy became the intial musical identity of the show and Flanagan even rewrote episode 8 around their song "Shy Girl". Haute and Freddy's nearly entire 2025 album "Big Disgrace" is used all over the series. Carrie wears their t-shirt in episodes two and three; she admits she doesn’t know what it is, and Miss Desjardin replies that they’re "a very cool band".

Release

Carrie was released globally with all eight episodes on Amazon Prime Video on October 7, 2026. Before the global release, the series premiered in the "Primetime" program at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival on September 18.

Reception

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 84% approval rating, based on 113 reviews, with an average of rated reviews of 7.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Mike Flanagan aptly expands this teen mythos with added compassion and ingenuity, bringing a modern touch to a timeless work and giving all performers involved the opportunity to shine while witnessing the ascension of a fascinatingly new Carrie." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Jordan Williams from Screen Rant praised Flanagan for justifying the miniseries' existence as yet another adaptation of King's first novel despite the existence of de Palma's film due to compellingly transforming King's themes and characters into an even more realized, nuanced portrait of the complex intersection of fear, anger and compassion in society through modernization and expanding on what the book originally showed. Likewise, Judy Berman in Time magazine called Carrie the first worthwhile adaptation of the novel in 50 years as Flanagan makes it relevant to current times with the series representing "a product of the Trump decade".

Nate Richard of Collider noted how many adaptations of King's works are notoriously "hits or misses" on the hands of different auteurs, but Flanagan is an exception and that, in regards to whether the property should be "dead or better", his miniseries proved to be a new take that, while imperfect, was highly addictive and feels more like a remix than a retelling.

Others were more critical of the new additions to the source material. In The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg wrote, "Flanagan is extending and over-extending the text in ways that are fairly conventional, but with a story as familiar and previously simple as Carrie, those changes could be interpreted as surprising, if not necessarily creative." He continued, "In the process, some of the engine that steers the property toward its explosive conclusion is lost. Even if you don’t know the story in any version, you know something bad is coming at the prom, but when it comes around, it isn't as disturbing or terrifying as it ought to be."

Emma Stefansky of The Atlantic said "the show is almost too empathetic to its main characters; it doesn't allow them to revel in their spitefulness, as they do in the source material. It treats many of them as victims of larger forces beyond their control—and robs viewers of the catharsis of Carrie's big moment". She concluded, "Defanging Carrie means flinching away from the unforgiving bleakness that makes the story so memorable." In The Times, James Jackson lauded the series' timeliness but commented "an overprotracted finale and various other superfluous additions to the story did made me long for the lean, mean concision of the original film".