Nothing is scarier than trying to fit in at high school.
During a Saturday panel at Comic-Con, Prime Video revealed an Oct. 7 release date for Carrie and the first teaser trailer that showcased all the hair-raising trauma that is in store: from classmates fainting on the iconic gymnasium floor to revealing Carrie White’s prom queen moment before her harrowing, blood-curdling scream amidst a raging fire.
Aiming to be more relevant to today’s culture than ever, Mike Flanagan‘s Carrie, based on Stephen King’s debut novel of the same name, will be an “honest” and “heartfelt” unearthing of mental health woes that teens go through, such as active shooter drills and the way simple mistakes live on forever on social media.
“Here’s the thing,” said Flanagan. “Carrie was written half a century ago. Carrie was adapted spectacularly by Brian De Palma. It is iconic. It is untouchable. There is no reason whatsoever to try to follow in those footsteps and to try to walk on that path. However, the world has changed quite a lot.”
Written by King in 1974, De Palma adapted the book into the iconic 1976 horror film starring Sissy Spacek as the titular telekinetic teen. Following the 1999 sequel The Rage: Carrie 2 and the 2002 made-for-TV adaptation, Chloë Grace Moretz played Carrie along with Julianne Moore as her mother Margaret in the 2013 Kimberly Peirce-helmed Sony adaptation.
Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan in ‘Carrie’
Marking the book’s first TV series adaptation, Flanagan explained how he updated the series in the 50 years since King created it. Explaining that he invited several high schoolers into the writers room to talk about their real-life traumas that helped shape Carrie’s narrative, Flanagan said: “They shared shocking one-off situations or constant treatment and microaggressions and things that are not necessarily present themselves as targeted harassment. [We will dive into] the cruelty in today’s world and how the internet has encouraged cruelty, rewards and celebrates and amplifies it. This is awful for adults to deal with, and for teenagers even more so.”
The eight-episode series follows Carrie White (Summer Howell), a misfit high-schooler who has spent her life hidden away inside the walls of her home with her fiercely protective and overtly religious mother Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). After her father’s sudden, untimely death thrusts her into the unforgiving ecosystem of public high school, Carrie is forced to navigate a viral bullying scandal that tears through her community, the relentless pressure and casual cruelty of the social media age, and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that rise alongside her adolescence.
Howell, who was chosen from more than a thousand auditions to play Carrie, explained, “It’s funny because it feels like Carrie, my Carrie, goes into this very open and excited for the world, and she wants to make friends and go to school and meet people. She’s never experienced people besides her mom and her dad.
“But it felt like this backwards journey because for me, I’ve gone to public school my whole life. I’m done with high school now, but I experienced it all. So it was just this switch of going back to, how would I have reacted if I were Carrie?”
Alison Thornton, who plays mean girl Chris Hargensen, noted, “It was so important for us to trust each other from the beginning because the show is very dark and set had to be a safe space. And that’s a credit to everyone here and Mike.”
Though it is based on the novel, the cast warned that there were “many surprises in store.” Meanwhile, Flanagan added: “It’s a thrilling way to adapt something. That is how we were approaching Carrie. That’s what got Stephen King very excited about this adaptation. I think a lot of people think they know what the show is. And the biggest thing I’m excited about today is just knowing what a big surprise our Carrie is going to be. It certainly was to me.”
After Deadline exclusively announced Flanagan’s Carrie in October 2024, he found his titular telekinetic teen in Howell, rounding out the cast with Samantha Sloyan as Margaret White, Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle, Alison Thornton as Chris Hargensen, Thalia Dudek as Emaline, Siena Agudong as Sue Snell, Amber Midthunder as Miss Desjardin, Josie Totah as Tina, Arthur Conti as Billy and Joel Oulette as Tommy. Other additions include Heather Graham, Kate Siegel, Michael Trucco, Katee Sackhoff, Rahul Kohli, Crystal Balint and Danielle Klaudt. Production wrapped last October.
