Mike Flanagan's Carrie (2026)
Everyone's well within their right to be disappointed by a lot of what has been teased from this new version. But here's some positives I can point out, from my end, that I'm looking forward to!
I'm definitely still seated for the upcoming show, but managing my expectations with everything that has been teased. The more information we've gotten, I can't deny that my enthusiasm over a novel-accurate adaptation has lowered and lowered.
I don't expect anything faithful to the novel now, but that doesn't mean I'm not curious and interested to see what new directions this iteration of the story will take, and it's taking bolder swings than the 2013 version (giving Kimberly Pierce grace for this though - we've already heard her film was really affected by reshoots and studio mandates) for sure, and I respect that. From the info provided, it really does not sound like a straight retelling anymore, and that's an exciting thing!
"With a present-day setting, Summer H. Howell is our new Carrie White. She’s spent her life hidden away at home with her mother, Margaret (Flana-fam regular Samantha Sloyan). Not even the state knew the two existed until the sudden death of Carrie’s father, Ralph, forces a spotlight onto their household and prompts the teenager to enter public school for the very first time."
This is already a great way to set Summer's Carrie apart and give her a fresh flavor from the other three screen adaptations. By having her introduced to public school for the first time, I can already feel myself wincing for her. I recently checked out some clips from her other projects, and I'm a lot more interested to see her act this role out.
I'm so interested to see how much further the locker room bullying incident will spread and be utilized through this version. Carrie 2013 had the seeds of social media bullying and brought it around in a neat way into the prom scene, but didn't get to fully flesh out this concept. Now with TikTok, memes, and internet culture, this new Carrie has a perfect target on her back to be an online scapegoat.
This image in particular really excites me, because they're already promising something I hoped for in the 2013 version, which ultimately both scenes got cut - scenes and direct interactions between Carrie and Chris!
I do really miss dark-haired Chris. I'm so thankful for Portia's Chris Hargensen lol.
The two characters don't exactly have lengthy or meaningful interactions with each other in the novel either, but the 2002 version had this really great moment between them that I appreciated, and it's made me crave it in every version ever since.
“Stephen King also talks about the ‘TK gene’ [for telekinesis] and the science behind Carrie’s abilities,” Flanagan says. “Something that the De Palma adaptation ignored was Carrie’s place in the larger universe, that she’s part of a sorority of very gifted women and just doesn’t know it. The book absolutely points at that, but that was something we could pick up and run with.”
This bit is really fascinating to me, and I'm eager to see how they've explored and expanded on this from the novel. Also, that little clip they previewed of Carrie's powers manifesting and affecting the mailboxes is VERY cute and fun.
Overall, I'm curious to watch it! I'm happy the conversation around Carrie can still be kept alive, and hopefully can extend even further after this show. I'm sad we probably won't ever get the faithful screen adaptation we wanted, but it just means we can continue to imagine it ourselves! And I do have a lot of fun interpreting the material myself.
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