Critic Slams Mike Flanagan's Carrie Series for Erasing King's Vision and Female Agency

Stephen A Russell's opinion piece for ArtsHub condemns Mike Flanagan's Prime Video adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie for betraying the novel's core themes. The series stars Summer H Howell as Carrie and Samantha Sloyan as Margaret. Russell argues that Flanagan, who wrote all episodes and directed four, dilutes Margaret's religious fanaticism, invents a telekinetic character Emaline (Thalia Dudek) who usurps Carrie's climactic rampage, and shifts Carrie's backstory so she is home-schooled until her father's death. The review criticizes the casting of Howell as not matching King's description of Carrie as 'a chunky girl with pimples,' perpetuating patriarchal beauty standards. It also notes the series expands the bullying to a school-wide conflict, introduces a social media subplot, and includes a paedophilia storyline. Russell contrasts the adaptation unfavourably with Brian De Palma's 1976 film and Kimberley Pierce's 2013 version, and highlights that no woman has ever written for a Carrie adaptation. The series, now streaming on Prime Video, has been renewed for a second season, which Russell deplores.