Prime Video's Upcoming Horror Series Could Be The Best Stephen King Adaptation Yet

In October, Prime Video will premiere a new horror series based on an iconic novel. One of the most prolific and bestselling authors of all time, the "King of Horror" has published over 60 novels, which have inspired over 100 movie and TV adaptations. These of course range in quality, from iconic cinematic masterpieces like The Shining to commercial and critical failures like The Dark Tower.

King's 1974 debut novel, Carrie, is one of the author's most popular works to adapt, as it has been made into a feature-length film three times. The original, Brian De Palma's 1976 classic starring Sissy Spacek is the considered the gold standard, while the 2002 TV movie was largely seen as an unecessary adaptation that added little more to the story than Y2K flair. Kimberly Pierce's 2013 adaptation had a great cast in Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, but it ultimately felt like a retread of the '70s version, albeit in a contemporary setting.

Despite the story of Carrie White, the bullied teenager with telekinetic powers, being told thrice for the screen, Amazon MGM Studios is releasing another, this time in the form of a TV series. Mike Flanagan's first series with Amazon as part of his new mult-year exclusivity deal, Carrie will release all eight of its episodes on October 7, 2026, as announced at San Diego Comic Con 2026.

Starring Summer H. Howell in the titular role, the new Carrie series is making several changes from King's book and the other adaptations that came before it. This is always a gamble, but based on the show's trailer, which was also revealed at Carrie's Comic Con panel, it may not only be the best version of the story yet, but also the best Stephen King adaptation, period.

Mike Flanagan's Signature Empathy Could Make Carrie The Best Stephen King Adaptation

While the trailers for the previous Carrie movies revel in the bloody aftermath of a girl who was pushed too far, turning Carrie into an objectified monster in the process, Prime Video's Carrie trailer does things a bit differently, choosing empathy over standard horror genre thrills.

The trailer features Carrie in voiceover, addressing her tormentors in an earnest attempt to understand why they couldn't have just befriended her the way the pretended to, and why they treated her so poorly instead. The images of Carrie are not of a wild-eyed, blood-drenched teen, but a plain-clothed girl playing volleyball in gym class and dancing at a party, trying to fit in.

Choosing to show Carrie's pain over her rage falls right in line with Flanagan's approach to horror. While Flangan has created some of the most violent (The Fall of the House of Usher) and terrifying (The Haunting of Hill House) horror TV shows in recent memory, those shocking, scary moments wouldn't have been nearly as effective were it not for the director's empathy towards his characters.

This is also seen in other changes Flanagan has made to Carrie, particularly regarding Carrie's mother, Margaret White. In King's book and the films, Margaret is depicted as a fanatical religious zealot whose brutal and chronic abuse of her daughter is just as much a factor in Carrie's undoing as her school bullies. However, while Flanagan's Margaret (Samantha Sloyan) is still devout, her decision to home school Carrie and isolate her from her peers comes out of Margaret's deep-rooted love for her daughter and desire to protect her.

Ultimtely, the worst King adaptations are those that make caricatures out of their main characters, whether it's the protagonist or the villains. By Flanagan doing what he does best — telling a story about flawed, layered humans — he's tapping into Carrie's core themes and setting up the characters to leap off the screen in a way they never have before.

Flanagan Has Proven Skill At Adapting King's Work

If Flanagan's five Netflix horror shows aren't proof enough that he's the right person to adapt Carrie, then the fact that the filmmaker has already helmed three King adaptations certainly is. Though Carrie is Flanagan's first time turning a King novel into a TV series, his feature-film adaptations Gerald's Game (2017), Doctor Sleep (2019), and The Life of Chuck (2024) all earned positive reviews.

Notoriously vocal about his opinions on adaptations of his work, King had glowing praise for Flanagan's Gerald's Game, calling the film, "horrifying, hypnotic, terrific." Morever, King is also reportedly "very happy" with the season 1 scripts for Flanagan's highly anticipated TV series adaptation of The Dark Tower. Flanagan is clearly doing something right in King's eyes, and this combined with the overwhelmingly positive reaction to the new Carrie trailer bodes excellently for the Prime Video series to be a hit.