Carrie is easily one of Stephen King's most famous stories. Originally written in 1974, the follows Carrie White, a reclusive young girl who enters high school, only to be met with ruthless bullying. Unbenownst to everyone around her, Carrie slowly discovers she has telekenitic powers—a realization that results in tragic results.
The book was quickly adapted for the big screen in 1976, with Sissy Spacek as Carrie, and the film which quickly became an iconic horror classic. Then, twenty three years later in 1999, The Rage: Carrie 2 came out, a sequel focused on a new telekinetic teen.
In 2002, a straight-to-television adaptation of the film was released starring Angela Bettis. Another reboot was made in 2013, this time staring Chloë Grace Moretz. There was also a musical based on the story in 1988, though it became a notarious flop—not that it stopped it from being re-worked and released off broadway many years later, to slightly more success.
Now, in 2026, Amazon Studios has Prime Video's Carrie, from the mind of Mike Flanagan (who wrote the original script for DC Studios' upcoming Clayface film). The show is eight episodes long, which gives audiences much more time with the characters involved. It will also be a modernizations of the tale, with Flangan aiming to reimagine many elements of the iconic Stephen King novel.
In a series of interviews, The Direct spoke with the cast of Prime Video's Carrie to talk about why they think the story of Carrie needed to be told again with this modernized version.
Yes, It Was Worth Telling the Story of 'Carrie' Again, and This Is Why
"The Original Stephen King Story Was Told 51 Years Ago."
- The Direct: "Carrie is a story that has been adapted multiple times throughout the decades. In your own words, can you talk about how this show offers something to the story that we've never seen before, and also how your own characters get to be explored in different ways?"
Matthew Lillard: I think that the reason we're telling the story again is that that story, the original Stephen King story was told 51 years ago. It's been half a century, and at the moment he wrote that, he had no idea what social media was. I mean, where we are now as a society, what kids are living through now, what bullying looks like now, is a totally new and original way to persecute people.
The actor went on to note that the story in Prime Video's Carrie is actually inspired by "a real-life story about an anonymous social media account that was destroying an entire town."
Lillard: And so I think that Mike Flanagan found a story, a real-life story about an anonymous social media account that was destroying an entire town, and applied the archetype of Carrie on top of it, and I think it's completely relevant. And there's a whole generation after generation that knows what carry is, but isn't connected with the story. And I think Mike [Flaniaan's] found an incredible way to tell it anew as of right now.
"I think in a lot of ways we offer something that people haven't seen before," star Amber Midthunder, who plays Miss Desjardin, explained.
Amber Midthunder: I think in a lot of ways we offer something that people haven't seen before. I mean, obviously, it was really nice, I think, for all of us as cast to be able to sort of work in an environment where we trusted the really big, important parts of 'Carrie' just to Mike, and knew that we were in safe hands, and that he would look out for the locker room scene and prom.
The actor continued, adding that showrunner Mike Flanagan did an incredible job making iconic moments like the shower bullying scene and the bloody prom sequence a reality for this show.
Midthunder: And he did a really great job, actually, on both of those days, sort of marking like these are really iconic moments of storytelling and cinema, and we get to be a part of it. And also, you get to take your own sort of like you're here for a reason, and you get to like take this ownership over your characters in these moments. Yeah, I think that was really funny.
Alison Thornton, who brings Carrie's vicious bully Chris Hargensen to the Prime Video series, exclaimed that audiences will get "so much more time with all the characters."
Alison Thornton: We have so much more time with all of the characters in this iteration because of the eight-episode format. So they're all like fully fleshed out as people, and we get to see why they're making the decisions that they're making, and that's something that I think is really going to surprise people about this specific version of 'Carrie.'
"I think our show is very faithful," added actor Josie Totah, the performer behind Tina.
Josie Totah: I think our show is very faithful in that Mike Flanagan is like the biggest Stephen King fan ever, and he also has an incredibly close relationship with him. I mean, he's adapted a number of his projects, but this one in particular, I think they worked together on the most, and I think that's really reflected in our show.
Totah also pointed to how the modernization of the story really adds to the story that the original Carrie was telling.
Totah: But I also think with the modernization of it, I don't think it takes away from the central themes that already exist. In fact, I actually think it adds to it, and it amplifies the stories, just like the cyclical nature of bullying, of what it's like to come of age, and I think he does that beautifully.
One of Chris Hargensen's allies in her crusade against Carrie is Arthur Conti's Billy Nolan. Conti told us that he feels one of the big benefits of the show is that it gets to "try new things and expand up the lore."
Arthur Conti: I mean, the original, like the time of the film is very short. It's like 90 minutes exactly, almost. So there's not nearly as much time to flesh out the characters and adapt everything that was in the book, and you know, try new things and expand upon the lore. So I think it'll be very interesting for fans of the original.
Joel Oulette, this Carrie's Tommy Ross, added that we get "eight hours to really just get in depth with all the characters that you've seen in the original and the book:"
Joel Oulette: I think we have you know a timeline of a whole series to really dive into this universe. Eight hours to really just get in depth with all the characters that you've seen in the original and the book, and I think just diving into that realm and those character storylines, you really get immersed in a new world of 'Carrie.'
