Mike Flanagan's Carrie Opens in the Mid-80s on Rotten Tomatoes. I Think the Prom Was Never the Hard Part

Everybody already knows how Carrie ends. That's the strange part about this one. Stephen King published the novel in 1974, Brian De Palma's film has been part of the culture since 1976, and the prom is one of those scenes people can describe without ever having watched the movie. So when Prime Video announced eight episodes, my first reaction wasn't excitement. It was a question: what do you put in the hours before a night everyone already knows is coming?

Mike Flanagan thinks he has an answer, and the first reviews are in. All eight episodes land on Wednesday, Oct. 7, and the early critical response is warm without being a victory lap. I find that more interesting than a perfect score, because the places where critics push back tell you exactly what this show is risking.

A caveat first. As I write this on Friday, Oct. 2, the season isn't out yet, and I haven't watched all eight episodes. I'm not going to pretend I did. What follows is built on the critics who have seen it, on King's and Flanagan's own comments, and on what the series says it's trying to do. When something is reported, I tell you who reported it. When it's my opinion, I say so.

Carrie on Prime Video: release date, cast and quick facts

Read those episode titles again. They sound like a class schedule, and I think that's a quiet statement of intent. This isn't going to be a horror story that happens to take place at a school. It wants to be a school story that turns into horror, and that's a different promise.

Is Carrie any good? Where critics agree and where they fight

I could line up a long list of verdicts, but I did that for another show this week, and honestly it hides more than it shows. The reviews for Carrie fall into three camps, and each one tells you something different.

Where almost everyone agrees: Summer H. Howell

TV Guide called Howell tremendous and said she makes you want to protect Carrie instead of just pitying her. Several outlets compare her favorably to earlier versions of the role. Collider's reporting, as relayed by MEAWW, says more than 1,000 actresses read for the part. Samantha Sloyan's Margaret White gets praise too, with Black Girl Nerds calling both performances excellent. When a story has been told this many times, a lead who makes it feel new is the whole ballgame, and the early signs are good.

Where critics lean in: the modern update

NOW Toronto gave the show 4 out of 5 and described it as a humane take on the book. Mama's Geeky called it a brilliant modernization about viral bullying and trauma. Comic Book Club Live called it bloody terrific, though it doubted it would beat De Palma's film. King himself said on Threads that Flanagan's version is brilliant and that what it says about social media is "shocking and true."

I'll come back to that last line, because it deserves some skepticism. FanBolt pointed out that King is famously generous about screen versions of his own work, so his post is worth what an excited author's enthusiasm is worth. That's fair. It's a nice endorsement, not a review. Still, it's worth noting that King's son Joe Hill separately said the trailer nearly made him tear up.

Where critics push back: eight episodes is a lot

This is the real debate. Collider's summary says the expanded format drew a mixed response, with some critics wondering whether the story needs eight episodes at all. TV Insider said a subplot about a toxic meme account goes on much too long, though it also called the series the best argument yet that Carrie's story doesn't have to end at the prom. TV Guide liked the show overall but warned that the ending risks undermining it and that a recurring idea about other telekinetic girls drags. HorrorBuzz was the harshest voice I found, giving the opening episodes 4 out of 10 for pacing. CBR landed at 7 out of 10, saying the reinvention mostly pays off despite uneven additions. The Austin Chronicle said it isn't as radical a reinvention as you might expect and won't overshadow De Palma's film, but still called Flanagan the unchallenged master of long-form horror.

The scores themselves moved around. ScreenRant had 84% from 43 reviews, Collider had 83% from 46, and Comic Basics had 85%. Collider calls it the lowest score among Flanagan's TV series so far, and ScreenRant makes the same point while adding that it's still well within his usual range. Ratings like these shift as more reviews arrive, so treat all of it as a snapshot from Oct. 1.

Carrie 2026 vs. every earlier version: the five-way scoreboard

People keep asking whether this is better than the original, and I think the fairest way to answer is to put every version side by side. The scores are Rotten Tomatoes critics scores as reported by Comic Basics and ScreenRant. The last column is my own one-line read, and it is an opinion.

Here's what jumps out at me. The 2026 series is already the second-best-reviewed screen version, ahead of the 2002 and 2013 versions by a wide margin. That's a real result, and it came before most people had seen the back half of the season. But it's also nowhere near De Palma's 94%, and I'd be careful about assuming it ever gets there. ScreenRant notes that most Flanagan shows have more than 100 reviews by premiere, so today's number is likely to look a little different once the full season has been reviewed.

My take: why the prom was never the hard part

Here's the thing I keep chewing on. For fifty years, adapting Carrie has really meant one job: stage the prom. Get the build-up right, get the payoff right, get out in about ninety minutes. De Palma did it so well that every later version has had to live in its shadow.

Eight episodes flips the job completely. When everyone knows the destination, the prom stops being the challenge. The challenge is making viewers care about the Tuesday before it. The locker room, the gym teacher, the guidance counselor, the girl who feels bad, the girl who doesn't. That's where this series either earns its length or doesn't, and the episode titles suggest Flanagan knows it.

I'll admit what pulls me in. The Black Girl Nerds review calls it less a traditional horror story than a supernatural YA drama-thriller, where the tension comes from teenagers' casual cruelty and not from haunted houses. If that's accurate, it explains the choice to frame the season like a true-crime documentary about the aftermath. You meet the consequences first, and then the show asks you to watch the people who caused them being ordinary. That's a smart way to use extra time. It makes the slow build feel like dread instead of padding.

And I like that Flanagan is putting himself at both ends of the season, directing the first two episodes and the last two, and trusting four other directors with the middle. I can't tell you yet whether that pays off. But it's the kind of design choice that suggests a plan, not a mandate to fill hours.

Now the part where I might be wrong. The critics who worry about the middle of the season are describing a very real risk. A meme account that overstays its welcome, an idea about other telekinetic girls that doesn't land, an ending that might blur what came before. Those aren't random complaints. They're exactly what happens when a short, sharp story gets stretched. The book works because it's small. I'd rather see a show take that smallness seriously than pad it for the sake of an eight-episode order.

My confidence check: what I trust and what worries me

I haven't seen the whole season, so I won't hand you a score. Instead, here's a confidence check. It's my own, and it's based on reporting and not on watching.

How I'd watch Carrie: a spoiler-free plan

Because every episode drops at once, how you pace it matters more than usual. This is my suggestion, not a rule.

1. You don't need to see anything first.Everyone knows the broad outline, and the new series is built for people who don't. If you want to compare versions, I'd watch De Palma's film after, not before, so the new one gets to surprise you.
2. Start with two episodes in one sitting.The first two are the ones critics saw at TIFF and Fantastic Fest, and they produced the early 80% score. Those are the hours critics have had the longest to weigh in on.
3. Make your call at episode three.By then you'll know whether the tone, the cast and the modern setting work for you. If you're still invested there, the rest is probably for you.
4. Leave the group chat alone until you finish.A show that comments on social media is also a show that gets spoiled on social media. If you plan to binge it, mute the keyword.

One practical note. I didn't find an official content rating in the sources I read. Given the subject matter, bullying and violence, this is clearly not a show for younger kids, so check Prime Video's rating before you press play with family around.

Carrie Season 2: what we actually know

Not a lot, and I'd rather say that than guess. Deadline describes it as a miniseries, and Prime Video is releasing it as one eight-episode season. Flanagan has said his dream scenario is a three-season run that he thinks of as a trilogy, and TV Insider suggested this could be the first part of one. As of Oct. 2, I haven't seen an official renewal.

My honest opinion is that Prime Video should let this first season stand as a complete tragedy and decide about the next one once viewers have weighed in. Earning a second act is more convincing than announcing one. We just watched a one-and-done limited series get a renewal anyway, and I'm not convinced that always helps the original story.

Carrie questions, answered fast