Carrie reboot: After Obsession, Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King series has one warning — don’t push women too far
A horror film now isn't a haunted house or a forest, it's a woman who has had enough
Jump scares, bloodshed, ghostly encounters, horror has always known how to create a nightmare. But lately, the scariest place to be, isn’t a haunted house or a cursed forest. It’s anywhere near a woman who has finally had enough.
After this year’s breakout hit Obsession dismantled tired 'nice guy' and 'friendzone' narratives, women are taking over the horror landscape — with a reminder: push someone far enough, and your worst nightmares might just come true.
And now, one of horror’s most infamous girls is returning to remind everyone why you should probably be nicer to the quiet ones.
Amazon Prime Video has unveiled the first look at Carrie, the upcoming TV adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, with horror maestro Mike Flanagan behind the reimagining.
Carrie White gets a 21st-century nightmare makeover
For those who haven't quite forgotten the earlier versions of Carrie, you would remember the bullied teenager, crying and horrified in a bath tub, and then the prom night where all the dreams go to die, along with a telekinetic outburst.
Well, now the nightmare is coming back in episodic format. First announced in late 2024 and officially ordered as an eight-episode series in early 2025, Flanagan’s Carrie brings Carrie White into an era where humiliation can spread across screens, group chats and the internet in seconds.
The official synopsis introduces:
“Misfit high-schooler Carrie White (Summer Howell) has spent her life hidden away inside the walls of her home with her fiercely protective 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.”
Meet the new faces of Carrie’s nightmare
Flanagan has gathered a cast ready to walk the halls of Carrie’s brutal high school world:
Summer Howell as Carrie White
Samantha Sloyan as her fiercely protective mother Margaret
Siena Agudong as Sue Snell
Alison Thornton as Chris Hargensen
Joel Oulette as Tommy Ross
Amber Midthunder as Miss Desjardin
Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle
Why Carrie and Mike Flanagan make a good match
Few filmmakers understand the delicate balance between horror and heartbreak quite like Mike Flanagan. His The Haunting of Hill House still remains one of Netflix's most poignant, heartbreaking horror series, as it drove home the point: The fissures in a family can be more tragic and terrifying than any monster lurking under the bed.
With Stephen King serving as an executive producer, this latest take on Carrie aims to revisit the 1974 novel while exploring what makes its central story still hit a nerve decades later.
It was what happens when someone pushed to the edge finally pushes back.
So yes, save the date for prom. Just maybe don’t be the person who gets on Carrie White’s bad side.
