'This Was Never Going to Be a Straight Adaptation' — Mike Flanagan's Carrie TV Show Makes Big Changes From Stephen King's Horror Novel

We person the archetypal details and images of Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series, which is acceptable to deed Prime Video this fall.

The header details are that this new, eight-episode adaptation of Stephen King’s fearfulness caller is acceptable successful the modern day, and explores teen relationships with technology. It sounds similar Carrie isn’t unsocial successful having powers, with each occurrence introducing a caller quality with a antithetic ability. And Carrie’s celebrated blood-drenched prom scene, which proved truthful iconic successful Brian De Palma’s 1976 movie adaptation, volition play retired differently.

Here's the authoritative blurb:

"Misfit high‑schooler Carrie White (Summer Howell) has spent her beingness hidden distant wrong the walls of her location with her fiercely protective mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan). After her father’s sudden, untimely decease thrusts her into the unforgiving ecosystem of nationalist precocious school, Carrie is forced to navigate a viral bullying ungraded that tears done her community, the relentless unit and casual cruelty of the social‑media age, and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that emergence alongside her adolescence."

Flanagan, celebrated for Netflix fearfulness shows The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass, and for adapting King’s 2020 novella The Life of Chuck into a movie starring Tom Hiddleston, told Entertainment Weekly that the situation with adapting Carrie came from expanding upon King’s publication for a TV show, alternatively than making it smaller.

“De Palma adapted it faithfully and beautifully 50 years ago,” Flanagan said. “Then it’s been adapted doubly aft that, officially and unofficially. It’s been imitated scores of times. So for me, this was ne'er going to beryllium a consecutive adaptation. The lone mode to attack it was to physique thing caller retired of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s truly nary intent successful trying to retread crushed that’s been truthful beautifully walked before.”

The TV amusement features acquainted characters and halfway events from the novel, including the precocious schoolhouse bath play country and, of course, the prom. But, Flanagan said, “we’re getting determination a wholly antithetic mode and the events of that prom are going to beryllium wholly different. That’s a wonderfully delicious and irresistible accidental for idiosyncratic who loves adapting things.”

It sounds similar the amusement volition grow upon the lore of Carrie, too, delving into Carrie’s spot successful the larger beingness and the “TK gene” she carries. “She’s portion of a sorority of precise talented women and conscionable doesn’t cognize it,” Flanagan explained. “The publication perfectly points astatine that, but that was thing we could prime up and tally with.”

To this end, each occurrence from the 2nd onwards opens with a unsocial communicative of a antithetic pistillate determination other successful the satellite who explores their awakening powers. “Carrie’s circumstantial spot among that radical of women is portion of the existent joyousness that we get to observe implicit the people of the season,” Flanagan teased.

Brian De Palma’s Carrie movie is considered 1 of the top fearfulness films of each time, and nary Carrie adaptation oregon follow-up since has managed to amended it, truthful it volition beryllium absorbing to spot if Flanagan's instrumentality tin scope the heights of De Palma’s effort. One happening is clear: this caller Carrie volition beryllium precise antithetic indeed.

Image credit: Robert Falconer/Prime.

Wesley is Director, News astatine IGN. Find him connected Twitter astatine @wyp100. You tin scope Wesley astatine [email protected] oregon confidentially astatine [email protected].