The Carrie on Prime Video right now isn’t quite the Carrie from Stephen King’s novel, and that’s exactly the point. In a new interview clip making the rounds, Mike Flanagan explains why he made bold creative changes to the story, and reveals the legendary author was fully on board with them.
“The high school & teenage experience has changed radically,” Flanagan says in the clip. “There’s a lot new things to say, a lot of new perspectives on this story that we, Stephen King included, felt deserved to be told.”
It’s a notable stamp of approval. King has never been shy about disliking adaptations of his work, but he called Flanagan’s series brilliant ahead of its premiere, and the show has earned a Certified Fresh 85% on the Tomatometer since all eight episodes arrived on Prime Video.
Flanagan’s take expands the world well beyond Chamberlain, Maine, connecting Carrie with other young women who share her abilities and stretching the story’s scope across episode titles named for class periods, from “First Period” through “AP Physics.” Summer H. Howell, who beat out more than a thousand actors for the title role, leads the cast.
All eight episodes of Carrie are streaming now on Prime Video.