Carrie Series' Stephen King Book Ending Changes & Season 2 Story Setup Clarified By Mike Flanagan And Cast

Warning: Major SPOILERS lie ahead for Carrie!Mike Flanagan just took a very big swing with his Carrie ending, and it's very much aimed at future seasons.

The latest adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 novel brings its troubled young teen into the modern day, with the sudden death of her father leading to the world learning of her existence after being homeschooled and prevented from leaving by her parents. Despite reservations from her mother, Margaret, Carrie quickly becomes embroiled in the highs and lows of public high school, including becoming the target of a series of bullying incidents spearheaded by the rebellious Chris Hargensen.

After proving victorious in overcoming her pseudo-cold war between them, in which the latter is expelled, the Carrie ending sees the eponymous character attending her first-ever prom, with the kind-hearted Tommy Norris as her date, and the pair winning Prom King and Queen. However, after a final prank from Chris involving a pouring of pig's blood on her, Carrie goes on a rampage, killing almost everyone at the event and almost completely wiping out her hometown, with Thalia Dudek's Emaline arriving to take Carrie out of town after surviving her mother's attempt to murder her.

Ahead of the show's premiere, ScreenRant's Liam Crowley and Grant Hermanns interviewed Summer H. Howell, Mike Flanagan and Amber Midthunder to discuss the Carrie ending. When asked about the group of unidentified women seen throughout the series, revealed in the finale to be led by Kate Siegel's mysterious Adelaide, Flanagan denoted that the existence of other powered characters is "one of the things the book does hint at," particularly by showcasing the titular character is "part of this longer legacy."

However, despite there being a lot of groundwork in King's original novel, Flanagan points out that no prior version of Carrie has the character "live long enough" beyond the ending to "learn that she's not alone in the world." It subsequently became "one of the first things I was really excited about" when the creator went about putting together his version of the series, as well as King himself when he pitched it to the author as "he loves when those worlds expand":

Mike Flanagan: As far as whether it could lead to something else down the line, my priority was always to get to the last frame of this season and honor the character and honor the arc and show the tip of the iceberg of that bigger world. I do think there's a ton of potential for more, especially with those characters. I think there are so many of those women who we meet, especially in 7 and 8, who I would love to know a lot more about. So I hope so, but I'm just worried about surviving season 1. We'll see how it's received.

Though acknowledging that her character's fate "wasn't up to me," Howell did remark that she was "super happy when I got to the end" and "saw the potential of more" for Carrie after the season 1 ending. The rising star further expressed her excitement at the way Flanagan explored "the TK gene and all these powerful women" who embody it throughout the world and remained hopeful there will be a future for the series:

Summer H. Howell: That'll be fun for the viewers and me to just get to see so many more women represented, and these powers are fun to play with. I hope she can also come back to the lighter version of herself, how she went into school with her openness and her eagerness for the world and exploring. We leave off season one; she's quite traumatized, and I think it'll take a while to get back, if she can even get back to those good memories and feelings, but I hope she has a fun journey in the future.

Howell subsequently turned to discussing the reveal that Emaline, who initially appeared to her as a friend before being believed to be imaginary after her classmates recorded her speaking to open air, is actually another powered individual. In a further twist from King's novel, Carrie's ending sees Emaline take control of the titular teen's body to push her to kill those at her prom in revenge for the prank and all of the torment she was put through prior.

Howell beamed as she recalled her time collaborating with Dudek, saying she "loved" the experience and that she "bonded really closely with them," making their friendship feel "natural" as it evolved. However, she teased that "there's always got to be underlying motives" to keep Carrie's story moving, and that should season 2 be picked up by Prime Video, she hopes the characters "can remain friends" should their motives differentiate.

Another major change to come from Carrie's ending is that of the death of Amber Midthunder's Ms. Rita Desjardin, who is actually one of the few survivors of the prom incident and subsequently retires over guilt for both her failure to help the young character and laughing in response to the pig blood prank. In Flanagan's series, Desjardin instead tries to prevent Katee Sackhoff's Judith Brigham from shooting and killing Carrie amidst the prom carnage, only to instead narrowly deflect the bullet through both of their arms, with Carrie responding by telekinetically throwing her teacher into the wall of flames on stage.

When asked about learning of her fate, and becoming the second-ever iteration of the character to die after Betty Buckley in Brian De Palma's Carrie, Midthunder acknowledged that she "loved that about [Rita's] storyline," having had the chance to read all eight scripts before meeting with Flanagan for the series. The Prey alum even opined that Desjardin's death "feels like a mistake," given how much she aimed to protect Carrie throughout the show:

Amber Midthunder: I thought it was very sad. I think in the way that Mike sets this up is that she is one of the people who just stays earnest and consistent in her support and affection for Carrie, and wanting to be a safe space for her. It's really sad. To me, at least, it felt like it spoke to the level at which Carrie's situation is so dire, to really — I like the term "prom-page" [chuckles] — to be on such a rampage and anybody who's in the path is scorched. I thought it was really sad.

Midthunder went on to praise Flanagan for his ability to take the big ensemble casts in his shows and, regardless of the level of anyone's role, "really rounds everybody out with a really full personality and storyline," thus making Rita's death all the more heartbreaking in Carrie's ending:

Amber Midthunder: I think that her storyline is really great, because you meet her, and she's a little bit aimless. She has all the best hopes and intentions, and as the show goes on, she's sort of unraveling and trying to find her place. And then, obviously, everything happens with Peist. And then you get to this point where she finally decides to come back to school, and she's really re-found her purpose and her direction, and then she gets thrown into a wall of flames. What a way to go, man! What a way to go!

When asked about the possibility of an off-screen survival for Rita, as her character's body was not shown, nor her fate mentioned by other characters after the fact, Midthunder chuckled as she said it's "Mike Flanagan's business" whether Desjardin made it out alive of Carrie's ending. However, that hasn't stopped her from keeping her fingers crossed for her survival, as she shared that she "made a lot of jokes about it" and made it "a hobby" to pitch "the different ways in which she could have survived" to anyone who would listen.

Courtesy of Prime

Prior to the show's release, Flanagan frequently teased having made a variety of changes to King's novel, a point which has notably appeared to be a sticking point in some of Carrie's reviews. But the survival of its titular character and death of Midthunder's Desjardin aren't the only major ones to come from the ending, as it initially revealed Carrie's mother, Samantha Sloyan's Margaret, to have survived.

In the book and previous adaptations, Margaret perishes following the events of the prom, albeit King's source material has Carrie using her powers to stop her mother's heart, while De Palma and Moretz's films had her impaled and the titular character destroying their house around her. Flanagan's series takes a similar path as the aforementioned films in Carrie destroying her home after being stabbed in the shoulder by Margaret, though with a big twist in that Margaret is shown having telekinetic powers of her own, using them to prevent a portion of the house from killing her.

Even still, Carrie does ultimately end with Margaret, now a more humanized antagonist, dying, albeit at the hands of Siegel's Adelaide, who uses her own powers to vocally convince her heart to stop. Furthermore, she explains to her fellow mysterious powered women that Margaret will be found by police and presumed dead from shock and the fallout from her ordeal, while also aiming to track down Carrie and Emaline.

With the show only having just premiered, Prime Video has not made any indication as to whether they're looking at giving Carrie more seasons. Flanagan has teased having a three-season plan for his latest King adaptation, and with it now all the more unclear whether Howell's titular character should trust Emaline, Adelaide, or no one, there is still plenty of room for the show's story to grow.

• Mike Flanagan acknowledging parallels between Carrie and Stranger Things' Eleven
• Summer H. Howell previewing Carrie's powers in the Prime Video series
• Our cover story interview with Carrie's Summer H. Howell
• Amber Midthunder addressing Naru's future in the Predator franchise
• Midthunder addressing the chances of returning for the Marvel Cinematic Universe's X-Men reboot after her role in Legion

Carrie is now available to stream on Prime Video.

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  Summer H. Howell

  Carrie White

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  Samantha Sloyan

  Margaret White

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  Siena Agudong

  Sue Snell

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  Alison Thornton

  Chris Hargensen

In this new series adaptation of Stephen King's classic novel, Carrie White struggles through the daily torments of school life, her domineering mother, and a dormant  set of telekinetic powers.