Director Mike Flanagan Gives Stephen King's Carrie a New Look on Prime Video

Director Mike Flanagan is back with a new take on Stephen King's classic story Carrie, now streaming on Prime Video. This project is his fourth Stephen King adaptation, following Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck. The famous book also received a stylish film adaptation by Brian De Palma back in 1976.

Character Changes

In this new miniseries, Carrie White is played by Summer H. Howell. The 48-year-old director explains that he and his team knew from the start they were not just remaking the old movie because it has already been done many times. Previous versions always showed Carrie as traumatized and terrified, trembling the entire time. Instead, this version of Carrie is curious, kind, eager, and a voracious reader who skips Mary Shelley's Frankenstein because she does not do scary things. The team wanted to see how the world today reacts to someone like that.

Core Themes

Flanagan notes that Carrie has always been about female empowerment and the female experience. The fourth episode of the series features dialogue stating that the world watches powerful, unique, and strong women fall, which is an awful truth about society. The series also aims to show that there is no clear monster in the story. Instead, cruelty and the normalization of violence act as the true villains. Characters like Chris Hargensen, played by Alison Thornton, and Margaret White, played by Samantha Sloyan, are not simple villainous monsters. Tragedies usually have many authors, driven by ordinary people making single decisions every day.

Historical Ties

The writers' room also linked Carrie to historical figures like Joan of Arc. Flanagan points out that Stephen King's book hints at gifted women throughout history, leading the team to discuss the Salem witch trials, German witch trials, and Joan of Arc. Flanagan adds that Carrie and Chris Hargensen feel like distorted reflections of each other. Under different circumstances, the two characters could have been good friends.

Context

Stephen King's debut novel Carrie has inspired multiple screen adaptations over the decades since its original publication. The story explores themes of teenage bullying, religious extremism, and repressed psychic powers that lead to devastating consequences at a high school prom. Streaming platforms like Prime Video regularly adapt famous literary works into miniseries to give complex plots more time to develop.