There's no end in sight to the number of upcoming Stephen King movies and TV shows happening, and Mike Flanagan is unsurprisingly one of the filmmakers heavily invested in multiple projects. Perhaps the next one we'll see on the small screen, his first TV series since The Fall of the House of Usher, will be his expanded take on the novel that started it all, Carrie.
Flanagan already adapted Gerald’s Game for Netflix and won King over with his Doctor Sleep feature. His feature take on the novella The Life of Chuck is hitting theaters, and he has a Dark Tower series in the works that could finally do justice to the epic fantasy. So it's somewhat surprising that amidst all of the high-minded fare (as well as his upcoming Exorcist movie), Flanagan was inspired to retell the story of bullied teenager Carrie White, but I couldn't be more excited as both a Flanagan fanatic and a lifelong King fan.
How will this new series differ from Brian De Palma’s 1978 hit, and who will be taking on all the familiar roles? That's what we're here to talk about, so read on for everything we know so far about Mike Flanagan's Carrie.
When Is Carrie's Release Date?
It's been a while since we first learned about Mike Flanagan’s Carrie adaptation plans, and while things were fairly silent early on as other projects came together, casting news has been dropping fairly quickly, indicating that production will begin sooner rather than later.
As of this moment, however, Carrie doesn't yet have a release date or window available.
Where To Watch The Carrie TV Show
Prime Video ordered Carrie to series in April 2025, so Stephen King fans will just need an Amazon Prime subscription to join in on the titular teen's quest for revenge.
Carrie Boasts A Huge Cast Of Mike Flanagan Regulars And More
After months of relative silence regarding the developing series, April 2025 is when Prime Video confirmed a series order for Carrie. Though not before unconfirmed Carrie casting reports suggested frequent Mike Flanagan collaborator Samantha Sloyan was in the running to play Margaret White, with Hereditary breakout actress Milly Shapiro rumored for the titular teen role. As wildly excited as I was to read those supposed options, neither seems to have panned out, with another actress rising up as the likeliest choice.
Summer H. Howell as Carrie White
Summer H. Howell made her on-brand acting debut in 2013’s Curse of Chucky, following it up with 2017’s Cult of Chucky, a role in my TV horror all-timer Channel Zero, and a string of low-budget horrors with titles like The Midnight Man, Harland Manor and Spirit in the Blood. And she was perhaps most recently seen by the most people within the cast of Netflix’s time-travel killer thriller Time Cut. From a genre perspective, she’s a natural fit to play the first of Stephen King’s troubled teens.
Siena Agudong as Sue Snell
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects:
Young actress Siena Agudong’s career was cemented through teen fare like Nickelodeon’s Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn and Star Falls and the DCOM Upside-Down Magic, though she more recently embraced horror genre as young Billy Wesker in Netflix’s short-lived Resident Evil series. Agudong is a solid choice to portray Sue Snell, a fellow classmate of who is initially drawn to joining others' bullying tactics, but eventually becomes something closer to an ally for the mistreated Carrie.
Samantha Sloyan as Margaret White
Longtime Flana-family veteran Samantha Sloyan is set to portray one of horror fiction’s most domineering human forces, and I dare say her performance as Bev Keane in Midnight Mass serves as a proper enough audition for the skills needed to bring the god-fearing matriarch Margaret White to life.
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects: Hush, The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Life of Chuck
Alison Thornton as Chris Hargensen
Prior to joining the world of School Spirits as Chloe, actress Alison Thornton was part of genre projects such as the “Baby Teeth” segment of AMC’s Creepshow, the mystery thrillers Dare Me and The Mental State, and the 2022 home invasion horror Girl Gone Bad, which she also produced. But how easy will be it be to absolutely hate her once she takes on the role of key Carrie villainess Chris Hargensen, who is central to the infamous prom night prank.
Arthur Conti as Billy
An up-and-coming actor with a breakout role as Jenna Ortega’s ghostly love interest in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Arthur Conti is set to step in John Travolta’s footsteps in the role of Billy Nolan. Chris’ rude and mostly selfish boyfriend, Billy is a risk-taker to a fault, and has a way of making others heed his wishes.
Joel Oulette as Tommy
Canadian actor and former Amazing Race: Canada contestant Joel Oulette is all set to join the world of Disney’s Descendants as Robbie Hood, but will then portray one of the few Carrie characters who isn’t a total plug or monster, Tommy Ross. Despite being Sue’s boyfriend, Tommy earns his good-guy budge by agreeing to take Carrie to the prom, not knowing that disaster would ensue.
Amber Midthunder as Miss Desjardin
In recent years, Amber Midthunder’s career has become enmeshed with multiple creature feature icons, first in the throwback Predator spinoff Prey, and then with the upcoming second season of the Godzilla and King Kong fueled series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Not that Carrie White will be any less intimidating when the actress joins the Stephen King adaptation as gym teacher Miss Desjardin, whose lack of moral discipline early on plays heavily into Carrie’s bullying going over the line.
Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle
With a prolific run as Shaggy across a variety of Scooby-Doo projects, Matthew Lillard is a horror icon for fandoms of all ages, thanks in addition to his roles as Scream’s Stu Macher and Five Nights at Freddy’s William Afton. He’s set to play Ewen High School’s steadfast Principal Henry Grayle, who is fully clued in on what the student body is up to. Though perhaps not the biggest role, Grayle will hopefully get a few new narrative bumps for the streaming series.
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects: The Life of Chuck
Josie Totah as Tina
While perhaps best known for non-horrors like Peacock’s canceled-too-soon Saved by the Bell revival and Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers, LGBTQ+-friendly actress Josie Totah is co-starring in the upcoming genre reboot Faces of Death. After which, fans will see her joining Ewen High’s prom committee as Tina Black.
Thalia Dudek as Emaline
Australian talent Thalia Dudek was most recently scene in the Season 2 premiere of Doctor Who’s Ncuti Gatwa era, but they also reportedly got a leg up on Stephen King adaptations by working on Edgar Wright’s upcoming feature The Running Man. Dudek’s Carrie character was reported to be someone named Emaline, which isn’t book-specific. It’s possibly worth noting that The Rage: Carrie 2 features someone named Emilyn, but it doesn’t seem like Mike Flanagan would be pulling from non-canonical sequels.
Kate Siegel as TBA
It’s hard to think of a Mike Flanagan project without also thinking about his most frequent partner in cinema, Kate Siegel, who also happens to be his significant other. At this point, it’s unclear who she’ll play in Carrie, but considering how unique her roles tend to be no matter how big or small, I’m intrigued. Plus, Siegel directed a segment for last year’s V/H/S/Beyond, so there’s potential for her to show off her talents behind the camera as well.
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects: Oculus, Hush, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald’s Game, The Haunting of Hill House, The haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, V/H/S/Beyond, The Life of Chuck
Rahul Kohli as TBA
After wrapping his breakout run on the comic book horror dramedy iZombie, Rahul Kohli joined Mike Flanagan’s stable of actors, and has been a regular presence ever since. Ahead of his still mysterious role in Carrie, he’s starring in Prime Video’s dramatized novel adaptation of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars.
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects: The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Life of Chuck
Katee Sackhoff as TBA
A genre queen of the highest order, Katee Sackhoff is known for her excellence in Battlestar Galactica, The Mandalorian, Halloween: Resurrection, Longmire, The Flash, Watchmen and a slew of other animated DC superhero projects. To name but a few. She’s reuniting with Mike Flanagan after a 12-year stretch, and I can’t wait to see who she ends up playing.
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects: Oculus
Michael Trucco as TBA
Michael Trucco’s career crosses over in fun ways with those of several other actors in Mike Flanagan’s fam, from Battlestar Galactica (Katee Sackhoff) to Citadel and The Electric State (Rahul Kohli) and beyond. I could easily see Trucco taking on the role of Chris’s ego-driven lawyer father John Hargensen, but we’ll have to wait and see what it’ll be.
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects: Hush, Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Life of Chuck
Crystal Balint as TBA
Having played one of the most tragic characters of any Mike Flanagan project, Crystal Balint will no doubt bring more emotional trauma to Carrie, and has recently co-starred in Hallmark’s Aurora Teagarden Mysteries films, ABC’s crime mystery Murder in a Small Town and the Canadian action drama Allegiance.
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects: Midnight Mass, The Midnight Club, The Fall of the House of Usher
Danielle Klaudt as TBA
On-the-rise actress Danielle Klaudt has popped up on the big and small screen mostly in short films and bit roles, but she can boast playing “Female Teller” in the 2017 Stephen King adaptation 1922, which starred Thomas Jane, the lead actor in Mike Flanagan’s 2016 horror Before I Wake.
- Other Mike Flanagan Projects: The Fall of the House of Usher
Other Carrie Co-Stars With Currently Undisclosed Roles
- Heather Graham
- Tim Bagley
- Tahmoh Penikett
- Mapuana Makia
- Naika Toussaint
- Delainey Hayles
- Cassandra Naud
- Rowan Danielle
What Mike Flanagan's Carrie Will Be About
We're still unclear of all the intricacies of how Mike Flanagan & Co. will be focusing on and expanding from Stephen King's novel, which will likely be turning 52 years old by the time the series hits Prime Video. But for now, we do have this official series synopsis to go on, which more or less adheres to the core plotting of the novel and subsequent film:
A bold and timely reimagining of the story of misfit high-schooler Carrie White, who has spent her life in seclusion with her domineering mother. After her father’s sudden and untimely death, Carrie finds herself contending with the alien landscape of public High School, a bullying scandal that shatters her community, and the emergence of mysterious telekinetic powers.
That all tracks with what we know of the character to date, and given Flanagan's own religious upbringing and approach to depicting religion in his works, it can be assumed that Margaret White won't stray too far from the Bible with her domineering nature. But it's likely that the timely approach will allow the creative team to take liberties with other details, with technology almost necessarily being added in as another form of harmful bullying.
Here's what Mike Flanagan told CinemaBlend about his approach to returning to Carrie's story:
I can't spoil our approach to Carrie only to reassure people we are not retreading the same story. It is definitely a new approach to the material, and one that Stephen King is excited about which is also important to me. . . . And so when he went through the proposal that I put together for it, his reaction was, oh, this is actually very exciting to him. And then I said, ‘Okay, if he's excited, then we should do this.’ But otherwise I wouldn't have done it.
If it got the King of Horror's approval after he was initially hesitant to give his easy blessing, then I think Mike Flanagan's got something quality cooking.
Where To Stream Previous Carrie Adaptations
Stay tuned into the hive mind for more updates on Mike Flanagan's Carrie series, and always think twice and then a third time before you attempt to make fun of someone just because they look like they won't use telekinetic abilities to explode nearby buildings.
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