A Stephen King Shared Universe Theory Will Make Sense After Mike Flanagan’s Carrie

While Stephen King's readers have come up with quite a few shared universe theories that connect his stories, one of these in particular will seemingly make more sense after Mike Flanagan's Carrie. 2025 proved to be an incredible year for Stephen King adaptations on the big and small screens.

Almost all big screen takes on the author's work last year earned critical acclaim, while his small-screen adaptations proved to be commercially successful. In 2026, we are seemingly getting fewer big screen adaptations of Stephen King's books. On the small screen, however, one returning series and one standalone show are set to continue the momentum set by 2025.

The returning show, The Institute season 2, is set to expand the lore set by its original Stephen King source material. Meanwhile, the original show, Carrie, is a miniseries created by Mike Flanagan. Both shows seem exciting in their own unique ways, but what makes them even more exciting is that many intriguing details connect their original books to a shared universe theory.

Stephen King’s The Institute & Carrie Are Believed To Be Set In The Same Universe

Stephen King has never explicitly stated that his books, Carrie and The Institute, are set in the same universe. The books also do not feature any clear character crossovers. However, their themes and treatment of psychic abilities in children share many overlaps. For instance, in both, TKs (those with telekinetic abilities) are the central drivers of the story.

In both, TK is revealed to be more of a rare recessive genetic trait that manifests in characters during adolescence. Just like Carrie White's abilities remain dormant until she is exposed to immense stress, the young characters in The Institute are abducted from their homes and forced to endure extremely stressful experiments to develop and enhance their TK and TP powers.

Both stories highlight how adults either turn a blind eye towards the suffering of children or actively participate in their oppression.

Stephen King's Carrie also follows an epistolary format of storytelling where it partially unfolds the reports of a committee called the White Commission. The book mentions that apart from ensuring that the "Black Prom" does not happen again, the committee is also responsible for kidnapping children and testing their telekinetic and telepathic abilities.

This development in Carrie has led many to believe that the White Commission is probably connected to the titular facility in The Institute.

Given how Carrie and The Institute's new TV adaptations have been developed by two different studios and teams, the shows will not tie into one another. However, despite this, Mike Flanagan's Carrie will seemingly make the connections between the two Stephen King stories even more evident.

Most previous adaptations of Stephen King's Carrie have shied away from adopting the book's epistolary format. Owing to the limitations of their runtimes, almost all adaptations have also avoided diving too deep into the White Commission's inner workings. Mike Flanagan's show, in contrast, seems to have enough room to accommodate some additional lore in its longer runtime.

This allows the series to reveal more about the White Commission, which could help viewers draw even more parallels between the shady committee and "the Institute."

Mike Flanagan has also consistently established that his take on Carrie is going to be significantly different from all previous takes on the material. This seems to suggest that he might finally embrace the original book's epistolary storytelling by adding some found footage elements to his series. Like The Institute, the show is also expected to focus on how modern anonymity and social media change the scope of trauma.

Flanagan has also previously revealed that, like the book, even the show will reveal more about Carrie's place in the larger universe because of her possession of the TK gene. This again will come off as the perfect tie-in story to The Institute.

The Institute and Mike Flanagan's Carrie will still remain distinct TV adaptations of two different Stephen King books. However, their shared parallels add another layer of excitement to their 2026 release, making it fascinating to see how each series interprets Stephen King's recurring themes of psychic abilities and trauma.

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  Carrie

  Release Date 2026 - 2026-00-00

  Network Prime Video

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    Summer H. Howell

    Carrie White

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    Matthew Lillard

    Principal Grayle

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    Samantha Sloyan

    Margaret White