While you hear that Mike Flanagan is taking up Carrie, it is easy to imagine you already know precisely the place it is headed. In spite of everything, Stephen King‘s first novel has change into one of the recognizable horror tales ever, with a number of variations already bringing its notorious promenade evening to life.
However when you assume you already know each beat of what is coming, Flanagan has a message for you: you in all probability do not.
All through his profession, Flanagan has constructed a status for taking acquainted materials and discovering contemporary methods to inform these tales. Whether or not it was The Haunting of Hill Home, The Fall of the Home of Usher, or his Stephen King variations Physician Sleep, Gerald’s Sport, and The Lifetime of Chuck, he has persistently discovered new angles that shock even longtime followers.
That strategy is carrying over to his upcoming eight-episode Carrie restricted sequence, which premieres on Prime Video this October.
Talking with ComicBook throughout San Diego Comedian-Con, Flanagan was requested how he approaches recreating one among horror’s most well-known sequences when audiences already know precisely what occurs on the promenade.
His reply was surprising. “It’s one among my favourite issues about this challenge, as a result of this is without doubt one of the first occasions in my profession I can actually say you don’t. Nevertheless it’s a type of issues everybody thinks they do. I assumed I did.”
He went on to elucidate that whereas audiences know the broad strokes of Carrie, they might not know practically as a lot as they assume.
“That’s the factor about Carrie. You realize Carrie goes to the promenade, however are you aware how? And I feel, you already know, what was actually cool about that is that we bought to construct one thing fairly new out of those anticipated supplies, and one thing that may be the inspiration in one other adaptation… in our home is simply the aluminum siding.”
That philosophy matches completely with Flanagan’s monitor document. His adaptation of Physician Sleep managed to mix King’s novel with Stanley Kubrick’s iconic imaginative and prescient of The Shining, creating one thing that revered each variations whereas additionally delivering the ending King had at all times needed.
It feels like Carrie is getting an identical remedy. Flanagan revealed that the sequence lets viewers know nearly instantly that this is not merely a recreation of the story they’ve seen earlier than. Within the very first episode, Siena Agudong‘s Sue Snell tells the viewers precisely what Flanagan has been hinting in any respect alongside:
“Everybody thinks they know what occurred on the promenade, however you don’t.”
That concept turns into one of many central themes driving the sequence ahead, setting the expectation that acquainted moments could unfold in very unfamiliar methods. And sure, the promenade remains to be occurring. It simply will not be the model horror followers know. As Flanagan defined:
“I’ll say that we go to the promenade due to course we do, however it’s a model of the promenade nobody’s ever seen. Our promenade takes us out of the gymnasium, after all, but in addition takes us out right into a a lot greater world that I don’t assume Stephen King actually hadn’t laid the groundwork for again within the 70s. And I feel that DePalma by no means would have imagined for his adaptation. So it’s actually thrilling.”
That is a fairly intriguing tease. The promenade bloodbath is one among horror’s defining moments, so increasing its scope past the acquainted gymnasium may utterly change how audiences expertise the story.
It additionally feels like Flanagan is not focused on changing what got here earlier than. As an alternative, he is utilizing these acquainted items as the place to begin for one thing that may stand alongside the earlier variations whereas carving out its personal identification.
If his earlier Stephen King tasks are any indication, longtime readers and followers of the basic movies ought to in all probability anticipate a number of surprises alongside the best way.
All eight episodes of Carrie premiere on Prime Video on October 7, 2026.
