Prom night was just the beginning. Just two weeks after its debut, Amazon Prime Video‘s series adaptation of Stephen King’s classic 1974 novel Carrie has been renewed for a second season, with horror auteur Mike Flanagan (Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House) set to return as showrunner and executive producer.
The news comes after the show topped the streamer’s most-watched list in more than 100 territories (via The Hollywood Reporter), and will tell a story that goes beyond the events depicted in the book. Between the cliffhanger finale and Flanagan’s earlier tease of a potential three-season plan, the continuation shouldn’t be particularly surprising, though a release date has yet to be set.
“For 50 years, audiences have known and gravitated to Carrie White’s story. From the beginning, we imagined a story that goes far beyond the prom, and I’m incredibly grateful for Stephen’s trust and support in exploring what comes next,” said the filmmaker.
Added King, who is also an executive producer on the project, “I can’t wait for audiences to get to see what’s down the road for Carrie White. Mike Flanagan and I are excited about what comes next. It’s bound to be thrilling.”
Additional story details about Season 2 of Carrie remain under wraps, but the first stars Summer H. Howell as the titular character, a hopeful young girl eager to join public school for the first time after living a solitary existence at home with her religious mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan), and her recently deceased prepper father, Ralph (Tahmoh Penikett). “Carrie is forced to navigate a viral bullying scandal that tears through her community, the relentless pressure and casual cruelty of the social-media age, and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that rise alongside her adolescence,” reads the rest of the logline.
The narrative recontextualisation for modern audiences was intended from the start, as was the decision to stray from King’s novel that saw Carrie die (and which carried over to previous on-screen adaptations). Joining Howell, Sloyan, and Penikett in the cast are Siena Agudong, Alison Thornton, Joel Oulette, Josie Totah, Arthur Conti, Thalia Dudek, Amber Midthunder, and Matthew Lillard, alongside Kate Siegel, Michael Trucco, Crystal Balint, Rahul Kohli, Tim Bagley, and Heather Graham in recurring roles. Flanagan directed four of the eight episodes, with the rest distributed among Siegel, Axelle Carolyn, Kyra Sedgwick, and Hiromi Kamata.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
