Mike Flanagan Deserves Credit For Updating Stephen King’s Horror Masterpiece

Published Oct 21, 2026, 1:00 AM EDT

Dhruv is a Lead Writer in Screen Rant's New TV division. He has been consistently contributing to the website for over two years and has written thousands of articles covering streaming trends, movie/TV analysis, and pop culture breakdowns.
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Mike Flanagan's book-to-screen adaptations are rarely direct translations. More often than note, Flanagan gives a modern spin to classic horror novels in his adaptations while adding some of his own creative flair. Take, for instance, The Haunting of Hill House. The Netflix horror series heavily draws from the original Shirley Jackson novel but does not shy away from taking many creative liberties.

Even The Fall of the House of Usher treads the same path. It draws its name and foundational story beats from the Edgar Allan Poe short story. However, it gradually turns into a full-fledged tribute to Poe's entire line of work. After so many successful adaptations, Flanagan recently delivered his take on Stephen King's Carrie, which premiered on Prime Video on October 7, 2026.

Like most shows and movies helmed by Mike Flanagan, Carrie landed positive reviews and even proved to be commercially successful. Any new take on Stephen King's Carrie is worth watching. But what makes Flanagan's show particularly fascinating is that it brilliantly updates the story from the original Stephen King book.

Mike Flanagan’s Carrie Makes The Stephen King Story More Relevant For The Times

Carrie's torment and bullying in the Prime Video horror series is not confined to the walls of Ewen High School. It escalates when Chris Hargensen’s harassment extends beyond word-of-mouth through a targeted social media account called "Carrie Red." This highlights how, in a modern hyperconnected world, cruelties are amplified and even turned perpetual online.

With what follows, Flanagan even holds up a mirror to institutional helplessness in the digital era. The show perfectly captures how even powerful administrative systems are not equipped to handle cyberbullying once it escalates beyond a certain point.

Even when it comes to Margaret White, Mike Flanagan's Carrie does not portray her as a one-dimensional villain. She is not a shallow religious zealot who is driven purely by blind faith and cruelty. In fact, there are scenes in the show where she even takes a stand for her daughter against school authorities. Other characters, like Chris Hargensen, are also complex villains in the series.

Flanagan explores the real reason behind their malicious behavior while evolving the familiar blueprint followed by all previous adaptations of the Stephen King story.

Flanagan’s Modern Take On Carrie Is Divisive But Refreshing

Considering the number of times Carrie has been adapted in the past, it was hard not to be a little skeptical about Mike Flanagan's take on the story. Fortunately, Flanagan attempts to distance himself from most previous adaptations by bringing something new to the table. His approach, however, has not been fully accepted by many Stephen King fans.

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The show's lack of "revenge thriller" themes significantly water down the original horror elements. Even the portrayal of online targeted harassment in the series can feel too heavy-handed, devoid of the classic and nostalgic feel of Brian De Palma's Carrie from 1976. Still, it is hard not to appreciate Flanagan's efforts to update and modernize the story.

While it is still arguable whether we needed another adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie, Flanagan's approach ensures that viewers do not feel like they are watching another redundant take on the same story.

Prime Video’s Carrie Sets The Stage For A Bigger Stephen King Story

Credit: Liane Hentscher/Prime

Since Carrie was Stephen King's debut novel, it predated the author's establishment of an overarching interconnected horror universe. Flanagan, however, cleverly updates this by subtly tying Carrie to a bigger story. By featuring careful nods to everything from The Dark Tower to The Shining, from The Dead Zone to IT, Carrie highlights how it perfectly aligns with Stephen King's wider psychic and cosmic rules.

These developments also prepare viewers for Mike Flanagan's The Dark Tower adaptation, which is not coming out anytime soon but is easily one of his most anticipated projects. In a controversial twist, the show's Carrie White also ends up surviving unlike her book counterpart. With this, the Stephen King adaptation hints that there is still a lot more to her story, which will be explored in a potential season 2.

Carrie

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.