Mike Flanagan developing a Carrie television series for Amazon

Big news today for fans of Mike Flanagan, the prolific horror filmmaker will be adapting yet another Stephen King work, this time for a Carrie television show for Amazon. The exclusive comes from Deadline and the outlet reports that the series will be eight episodes.

Flanagan has adapted multiple King stories already, including Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, and, most recently, The Life of Chuck. The Life of Chuck won't be released until 2025 by Neon, but the film received a great reception during its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the festival's People's Choice Award. And, of course, Flanagan is no stranger to television as a medium, having created acclaimed series like Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Haunting of Hill House. He's also developing a TV adaptation of King's Dark Tower series.

Regarding the upcoming Carrie series, this is not the first time that someone has tried to adapt King's iconic 1974 novel for television. FX was previously developing a series, though there haven't been any significant updates on the project in a long time, indicating it might no longer be happening.

On the film side, the 1976 classic from director Brian De Palma starring Sissy Spacek in the titular role is still the most popular and beloved, but there have been multiple movie adaptations, including the made-for-TV 2002 version and the 2013 remake starring Chloë Grace Moretz. There was also a poorly-received sequel titled The Rage: Carrie 2. The musical version of Carrie has also become pretty popular in its own right.

There is a lot of room to take Carrie into a new, modernized direction and stick more closely to the original story. For one thing, no film has really tried to tackle the book's epistolary style, meaning it's told primarily through journal entries, newspaper clippings, etc. That style would actually function well for a television series, allowing for more character development leading up to the climactic and famous prom scene.

Interestingly, King has taken to his X account (formerly Twitter) to retweet a post about the news regarding Flanagan adapting Carrie. The post says the studios should let Flanagan try adapting Salem's Lot instead. "That's long overdue a good adaptation."

Considering Max just recently released a new Salem's Lot adaptation, I think that retweet tells us all we need to know about how King's opinion of it.