Stephen King’s New Horror Hit Officially Passes Massive Streaming Milestone Ahead of Season 2

5 days ago 25
Alison Thornton in Carrie Image via Prime Video

Published Oct 23, 2026, 8:20 PM EDT

Rohan Naahar is a News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema. 

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Having unseated the blockbuster Prime Video series Reacher and Neagley from the top of the Prime Video streaming charts, Stephen King's new horror limited series has fended off competition from another heavy hitter. This week saw the long-awaited return of the action-thriller show The Terminal List, starring Chris Pratt. The show has been on hiatus for four years, but it could only manage a third-place finish on the global Prime Video leaderboard upon its return on October 21. The streamer's number-one show remained the King adaptation. The latest edition of the Nielsen viewership report shed more light on the show's viewership, revealing that it took the crown in its first week of release.

The show debuted alongside two Netflix series — the six-part supernatural horror hit Below, and the seven-part literary adaptation East of Eden. According to Nielsen, both shows cracked the 1 billion minutes watched milestone in their debuts. Netflix reports they have generated 38 million and 25 million views, respectively. Below owes a huge creative debt to King's work, which also influenced this year's breakout Apple TV hit, Widow's Bay. However, 2026 has been relatively lean when it comes to official King adaptations, which is unusual, considering how many were released in 2025. The new Prime Video show has proven that it’s better late than never.

Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring

Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.

😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)

🧸Chucky(Child's Play)

📞Scream(Ghostface)

🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)

FIND YOUR NIGHTMARE →

01

Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.

ASomebody falling asleep when they really should not. BA toy that has moved, and nobody touched it. CA phone ringing in an empty house. DA child talking to somebody who is not there.

NEXT QUESTION →

02

You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.

AI am exhausted and my mind is playing tricks on me. BSomething in this room is not where I left it. CSomebody is in here with me. DThis house has never felt entirely right.

NEXT QUESTION →

03

Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.

ANever fall asleep. BNever leave it out of your sight. CNever answer the phone. DNever go down to the basement.

NEXT QUESTION →

04

Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.

AConvince myself I imagined the whole thing. BTell someone, and brace for them not believing me. CWork out which person I know could be behind it. DGet everybody in the house into one room.

NEXT QUESTION →

05

How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.

AFine during. Wide awake at two in the morning. BShouting at the screen that nobody is listening. CCalling the twist out loud before it lands. DThrough my fingers, holding on to something.

NEXT QUESTION →

06

Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.

AFall asleep in a room I have never been in before. BKeep an old doll on the shelf facing my bed. CAnswer every unknown number that calls after midnight. DSpend one night alone in a house with a history.

NEXT QUESTION →

07

Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.

ANot wanting to turn the bedroom light off. BNot trusting one particular object in my house. CLooking twice at people I have known for years. DFeeling like something came home with me.

NEXT QUESTION →

08

Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.

AThat I am still asleep, and it knows it. BThat the thing nobody believed me about is here. CThat somebody with a key is downstairs. DThat something is in the doorway, watching us sleep.

REVEAL MY NIGHTMARE →

The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…

Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.

Elm Street

Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.

  • Freddy is horror's cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
  • You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your own head is where this does its damage.
  • These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
  • You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.

Chucky

Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.

  • Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
  • You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You know that feeling from real life too.
  • The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you have met those adults.
  • By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.

Scream

Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.

  • Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be somebody who was at the party.
  • You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the same way you watch films.
  • The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
  • Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.

The Conjuring

Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.

  • The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
  • Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
  • This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
  • Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one standing in the hallway.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Here's Where the New Horror Show Stood on the Nielsen Report

We're talking, of course, about the eight-part limited series Carrie — the novel was previously adapted into a cult classic movie by Brian De Palma in 1976, and then remade in 2013 by Kimberly Peirce. The new series was created by Mike Flanagan, who previously directed the King adaptations Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck, in addition to the King-inspired shows The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. Carrie continued Flanagan's streak of delivering acclaimed hits, and is now sitting at a "Certified Fresh" 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The aggregator website's consensus reads, "Mike Flanagan aptly expands this teen mythos with added compassion and ingenuity, bringing a modern touch to a timeless work and giving all performers involved the opportunity to shine while witnessing the ascension of a fascinatingly new Carrie." The show took the number-one spot in its first week of release, with Nielsen reporting that it amassed 1.2 billion minutes watched. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

carrie-poster.jpg

Release Date 2026 - 2026-00-00

Network Prime Video

Writers Mike Flanagan, Alexandra Magistro, Justina Ireland, Jamie Flanagan, Elan Gale, Rebecca Klingel, Elizabeth Padden, Dani Parker
  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Summer H. Howell

    Carrie White

  • instar49702429.jpg

    Samantha Sloyan

    Margaret White

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