When adapting the 1974 Stephen King story for the digital age, Mike Flanagan says it was important to go all in on how social media and cell phones would only add to the cruelty Carrie faces at the hands of her bullies.
“Yeah, we talked a lot about how it changed when there were phones in people’s hands, that scene especially. And in every other version, that’s the first scene,” Flanagan tells GamesRadar+. “And so one of the first things we kind of started to play with was, I think that’s the end of the pilot, and I think we’re gonna walk us into that. It’s so tough to even imagine doing any story, any serious story about the modern teenage experience without engaging with the topic of social media because it is so ingrained in their day-to-day lives.”
In the trailer for Carrie, we see the infamous scene – where Carrie gets her first period but has no idea what menstruation is, so she naturally believes she’s dying. Instead of helping her, the girls in her gym class pelt her with sanitary napkins and tampons. In Flanagan’s version of the story, the year is 2025… and the girls whip out their cell phones and film the ordeal, in addition to throwing things at her. It’s a hard watch, but Flanagan says it was necessary.
“And the normalization of cruelty that comes with that was something that we really, really felt like we needed to talk about,” Flanagan continues. “But yeah, it broke open a lot of things for us. I think that’s one of the things I’m so impressed with about today’s teenagers: I wouldn’t have had the fortitude to survive.
I barely survived high school as it was. That was in the ’90s. We didn’t have to worry about any of this stuff. And I thought I was barely holding on by my fingernails. You know, I was a bullied kid too.”
The new series sees Carrie White (Summer H. Howell), homeschooled until her teen years, begin public school for the first time. The story plays out the way we all know and love it, but the addition of social media makes it that much worse. In fact, it adds to the horror aspect in a way you would never expect. I challenge you to get through this series without crying.
The cast includes Samantha Sloyan as Margaret White, Siena Agudong as Sue Snell, Alison Thornton as Chris Hargensen, Amber Midthunder as Rita Desjardins, and Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle.
“I can’t even fathom if I would have had to go to school daily,” adds Flanagan. “And contend with all of my torments, all of my mistakes, all of my growing moments being potentially captured and shared for the world forever. I don’t know how they do it. So I came out of it amazed with the fortitude of today’s teenagers. Nothing but respect.”
Stephen King took to Threads to praise Flanagan’s modern-day adaptation, saying, “Mike Flanagan’s version of CARRIE is brilliant. What it has to say about social media is shocking and true.” You’ll just have to see for yourself.
Carrie hits Prime Video on October 7, with all eight episodes in tow. For more scares, here’s our round-up of all the upcoming horror movies you need to know about.