After Mike Flanagan’s Carrie, Returning Stephen King Show In 1 Month Is Unmissable
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As expected, Mike Flanagan's Carrie is already being ranked among some of the best takes on Stephen King's works. However, after watching the show, it is hard not to feel a void in the horror genre. While waiting for other mainstream Stephen King adaptations, fans of the author must check out an unmissable series that is all set to return very soon.
Based on Stephen King's book of the same name, The Institute premiered on MGM+ to mixed reviews. Compared to HBO's It: Welcome to Derry, The Institute also garnered relatively less mainstream attention after season 1. Despite this, the show was renewed for another season.
What made its renewal even more interesting is that The Institute season 1 completely exhausted the story from the original Stephen King novel. This suggests that season 2, which is set to premiere on November 8, 2026, will go far beyond its source material. While this may or may not work in the series' favor, it is hard not to see The Institute as Carrie's perfect follow-up.
The Institute Tells The Same Story As Carrie
Carrie was Stephen King's debut novel. The Institute, on the other hand, was published in 2019, making it one of his recent books. Even though there are decades between the two books, however, they share many intriguing parallels. The Institute almost feels like an echo of the themes covered in Carrie and seems to expand the debut novel's story to a bigger scale.
Similar to Carrie, The Institute, too, features children with TK (telekinesis) and TP (telepathy) abilities as its leads. Just like Carrie is oppressed by her mother at home and bullied by her peers at school, even the kids in The Institute are abducted from their homes and tortured by the adults who run a secret "institute."
In both stories, young characters are forced to lose their childlike wonder and innocence after being treated as tools or weapons by adults who feel entirely justified in terrorizing them. Towards the end of both, the main leads unleash the full potential of their abilities to punish and take down the systems that oppressed them.
Stephen King has never explicitly highlighted any direct connections between Carrie and The Institute. However, many readers have noticed how they could be set in the same universe.
Are Stephen King’s Carrie & The Institute Set In The Same Universe?
Carrie introduces the White Commission, which is basically a government-sanctioned committee that investigates Chamberlain, Maine, after the "Black Prom." In a brief passage, the Stephen King book also mentions how the White Commission has isolated the genes for telepathy and telekinesis, allowing them to run tests on kids in the future.
This seems to perfectly lay the groundwork for the story in The Institute. As theories suggest, The "Institute" could be the evolution of the White Commission, given how the facility targets "gifted" children and forces them to use their powers to carry out assassinations.
If connected to the larger Stephen King universe, both Stephen King's Carrie and The Institute can also be tied to The Dark Tower. While Mike Flanagan's take on Carrie and MGM+'s The Institute are certainly not connected, it would be interesting to see how both shows could eventually pave the way for the highly anticipated Dark Tower adaptation.
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Carrie
- Release Date
- 2026 - 2026-00-00
- Network
- Prime Video
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Summer H. Howell
Carrie White
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Samantha Sloyan
Margaret White
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.
- Directors
- Mike Flanagan, Axelle Carolyn, Hiromi Kamata, Kate Siegel, Kyra Sedgwick
- Writers
- Mike Flanagan, Alexandra Magistro, Justina Ireland, Jamie Flanagan, Elan Gale, Rebecca Klingel, Elizabeth Padden, Dani Parker
- Main Genre
- Horror
- Creator(s)
- Mike Flanagan
- Executive Producer(s)
- Mike Flanagan, Stephen King, Trevor Macy
- Producers
- Justin Wagman, Rebecca Klingel, Dani Parker
- Seasons
- 1
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The Institute, released in 2025, follows 14-year-old genius Luke Ellis, who is kidnapped and wakes up at a mysterious facility filled with children possessing unusual abilities. Meanwhile, Tim Jamieson, a former police officer, seeks a fresh start in a nearby town, inevitably intertwining his fate with Luke's.
- Directors
- Jack Bender, Brad Turner, Jeff Renfroe
- Writers
- Sam Sheridan, Benjamin Cavell, Ed Redlich, Eric Dickinson, Sophie Owens-Bender
- Main Genre
- Thriller
- Creator(s)
- Benjamin Cavell
- Executive Producer(s)
- Benjamin Cavell, Jack Bender, Shane Elrod
- Producers
- Jack Bender, Benjamin Cavell
- Seasons
- 2
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