Mike Flanagan's Carrie Brilliantly Teases Amazon's Future Stephen King Series

Published Oct 12, 2026, 8:15 PM EDT

Developed by Mike Flanagan, Carrie is a reimagining of Stephen King’s novel that brilliantly modernizes the story while staying true to the book’s premise and essence. Carrie, then, tells the story of Carrie White (Summer H. Howell), who, after years of being homeschooled and isolated by her abusive mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan), is forced to attend high school while Margaret is forced to get a job. Although excited about the new experience, a bullying scandal completely changes Carrie’s high school experience, while also awakening her telekinetic powers.

It’s well known that there’s a Stephen King universe, with various novels and short stories having references to other characters and events, thus creating links between them. Flanagan’s Carrie stays true to this and has various Stephen King Easter eggs, the most notable one being the mention of “the shine”, but it also has a sneaky but brilliant tease of Flanagan’s next King project with Prime Video: The Dark Tower.

Carrie Subtly Sets The Ground For Mike Flanagan’s The Dark Tower

Among the many changes and additions in Flanagan’s Carrie is her family history. In the novel, Carrie’s father, Ralph, dies before Carrie is born, and while Margaret is abusive, Carrie isn’t isolated until her teenage years, but she still doesn’t know much about social norms due to her mother’s extreme religious beliefs. In the TV show, Carrie had been isolated her whole life, and it wasn’t until Ralph’s death that she and Margaret were found and forced to join the outside world.

Ralph was a construction worker, and he died in an accident while at work. Ralph was working for a project by LaMerk Industries, with one shot showing Ralph arriving at work and a sign that reads “LaMerk, Coming Soon.” While this might not seem relevant to casual viewers, it’s a subtle yet brilliant tease for Flanagan’s upcoming The Dark Tower adaptation over at Amazon.

In the world of The Dark Tower, LaMerk Industries (also known as LaMerk Foundry) is a metalworks company allied with the Crimson King and the Sombra Corporation to bring down the title Dark Tower. In this world, LaMerk Industries manufactures robots and more, and even repaired the footbridge that Father Callahan crossed to enter the Highways in Hiding. In the world of Flanagan’s Carrie, LaMerk Industries is into commercial real estate, but it could be hiding other, shadier businesses.

Now, it was announced in 2022 that Mike Flanagan had acquired the rights to develop a Dark Tower TV series as part of his new deal with Amazon Studios, and the project has been in development ever since. The Dark Tower is a massive project in terms of how complex and rich the novel series is, but Flanagan has confirmed its fate, sharing with ScreenRant that they are still working on it but still hopes it will happen.

As for the Dark Tower’s connection to Carrie, Flanagan confirmed it in an interview with TV Insider, saying that he believes his take on Carrie takes place “on a certain level of the Tower.”

Could Carrie Be The Start Of A Connected Flanagan/King Universe?

Mike Flanagan’s Carrie is confirmed to be connected to The Dark Tower, and with its mention of “the shine”, the question now is if the show could be the start of a connected universe of Flanagan adaptations of Stephen King works. In the final episode of Carrie, Adelaide (Kate Siegel) tells Margaret that some people have “a bit of ‘the shine’”, confirming the show’s connection to the world of The Shining, which is especially interesting since Flanagan directed the movie adaptation of Doctor Sleep.

This made way for theories about Carrie and Doctor Sleep’s Abra Stone possibly meeting in a potential second season of Carrie or in the near future, which would, in turn, also connect Doctor Sleep to The Dark Tower. A connected universe of Mike Flanagan adaptations of Stephen King stories isn’t confirmed at the moment, so for now, all speculation is purely for fun, and it’s to be seen if and how all those Easter eggs pay off in Carrie, The Dark Tower, and beyond.

Source: TV Insider.