Another Carrie remake might not sound like something we desperately needed.
Turns out, we did.
Skeleton Magazine got an early look at Prime Video’s new Carrie series ahead of its October 7 premiere, and Mike Flanagan has managed to do something surprisingly difficult: take one of horror’s most familiar stories and make it feel fresh again.
And without spoiling anything, it’s very, very good.
Based on Stephen King’s 1974 novel, the eight-episode series stars Summer H. Howell as Carrie White, a sheltered teenager who suddenly finds herself navigating public high school after the death of her father.
Carrie becomes the target of a viral bullying scandal, while also beginning to discover that the strange things happening around her may be connected to powers she doesn’t fully understand yet.
This Carrie feels made for 2026
Anyone familiar with Carrie already knows the basics: Carrie White, her deeply controlling mother, the bullying, the powers and, of course, the prom.
What makes Flanagan’s version work is that it doesn’t just recreate those same moments for a younger audience. It asks what Carrie’s life would actually look like now.
High school cruelty doesn’t end when the bell rings anymore. Phones, social media and viral videos can make one humiliating moment feel permanent, and this version of Carrie leans into that in a way that feels natural rather than forced.
The modern setting could have easily come across as an obvious update to an old story, but it actually makes Carrie’s isolation feel worse. She already feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere, and now even leaving school doesn’t necessarily mean she gets to escape what happened there.
That part of the story feels painfully believable.
Summer H. Howell makes Carrie White her own
Taking on Carrie White is a tough job. Sissy Spacek’s performance in Brian De Palma’s 1976 film is still one of the most memorable in horror, so anyone stepping into the role has to find a way to make Carrie feel familiar without copying what came before.
Summer H. Howell does exactly that.
The longer format gives her more time to build Carrie as a person, which really helps the viewer. We get more of her awkwardness, her fear and her anger, but also those small moments where you see who she could have been if her life had looked completely different.
That is what makes this version of Carrie work so well. She isn’t just someone you feel sorry for; you genuinely care about her, and that makes everything happening around her land so much harder.
Samantha Sloyan is terrifying as Margaret White
Then there’s Carrie’s mother.
Samantha Sloyan plays Margaret White, and she is fantastic.
Anyone who watched her in Midnight Mass already knows how good she is at playing a character whose certainty becomes increasingly unsettling, and that works perfectly here.
Margaret’s beliefs and control over Carrie are still at the centre of the story, but the series format gives their relationship more space, which somehow makes it even more uncomfortable.
Some of the hardest scenes to watch have nothing to do with Carrie’s powers at all. They come from the way Margaret controls, shames and frightens her daughter.
It’s also a good reminder that Carrie was never just a story about a girl who could move things with her mind. The people around her have always been part of the horror too.
And yes, our king Matthew Lillard is here
We obviously need to talk about Matthew Lillard.
The Scream icon joins Carrie as Principal Grayle, and yes, he is every bit as good as we wanted him to be.
Lillard has always had that thing where he can show up in a scene and immediately make it more interesting. He has so much personality on screen, but he never feels like he’s trying to steal the moment either, which works really well here.
We won’t say too much about Principal Grayle because we’re keeping this spoiler-free, but Lillard brings a lot of warmth to the role while still fitting naturally into Flanagan’s darker version of the story.
And yes, we are always happy to see him back in horror.
He may forever be Stu Macher to a certain generation of fans, but Lillard has also spent years proving how much range he has beyond Scream. Give the man another horror project and we will happily show up.
Stephen King, Mike Flanagan and Matthew Lillard in October? We are being fed.
Mike Flanagan was the right person to remake Carrie
If anyone was going to convince us that another version of Carrie was worth watching, Mike Flanagan was probably the right person for the job.
His best horror has never been scary just because something supernatural is happening. The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game all spend just as much time on grief, family, trauma and the things people do to each other.
That approach fits Carrie perfectly.
The extra runtime also gives the rest of the characters more space than we usually get in film versions of the story. Sue Snell, Chris Hargensen, Tommy Ross and Miss Desjardin all feel more developed, which makes the world around Carrie feel more real.
And that matters because so much of Carrie has always been about the people around her and the choices they make. Some participate in the cruelty, some look the other way and others try to show her kindness. Having more time with those characters makes their decisions feel more important and gives the story more weight as everything starts to unravel.
Is the new Carrie series worth watching?
Absolutely.
If you already love Stephen King’s novel or the 1976 film, there is enough here that still feels unmistakably Carrie.
But this doesn’t feel like a remake made just for the sake of having another remake.
Flanagan takes everything that has always made the story work — isolation, bullying, shame, family and the desperate need to belong — and brings it into a world that has found even more ways to make someone feel alone.
That is what makes this version hit. It isn’t scary just because Carrie has powers; it’s scary because by the time those powers start to matter, you understand exactly how she got there.
The series is emotional, unsettling and genuinely heartbreaking at times, but most importantly, it gives you a reason to care about a story you may think you already know.
And considering how many times Carrie White has been brought to the screen, that might be the biggest surprise of all.
Carrie premieres October 7, 2026, exclusively on Prime Video, with all eight episodes available at launch.
Want more? We’ve rounded up 10 new movies and television shows to watch this October.
