Summer H. Howell is holding the finished book in a new promotional portrait, beaming as she holds the paperback up by her shoulder. The cover is the famous one horror readers know on sight, with one difference. The girl on it, hands pressed to her prom tiara, is Howell herself, the star of Prime Video’s Carrie.
Vintage released the television tie-in paperback of Carrie on September 29, days before the series premiered on Prime Video. The 336-page paperback, priced at $18, presents Stephen King’s 1974 debut novel in its 50th anniversary edition, including an introduction by Margaret Atwood, and the cover carries a sticker marking the Prime Video series.
The handoff happened on camera. In a short video from the same shoot, shared by Prime Book Club, Prime Video’s book club account, on premiere day, showrunner Mike Flanagan presents Howell with her copy of the new edition. She takes it from him, looks it over, and holds it up to the camera with the cover facing out.
It is a satisfying full circle for Howell. As Interview Magazine noted in its recent feature on her, Howell had never read Carrie when she auditioned for the title role, and she still won the part over more than 1,400 other hopefuls. Now her Carrie is the face introducing King’s first novel to a new generation of readers.
All eight episodes of Carrie, from showrunner Mike Flanagan, are streaming now on Prime Video, with Howell leading a cast that includes Samantha Sloyan as her mother, Margaret, and Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle.