As anyone who’s ever seen the original Brian De Palma film (or Glee, or Derry Girls, or just been to a prom in general) knows, King’s 1974 novel follows a bullied girl who gets pranked with pig’s blood at prom and goes on to enact vengeance through her telekinetic powers. The original 1976 film, which starred Sissy Spacek, John Travolta, and Piper Laurie, spawned an ill-received sequel, The Rage: Carrie 2, in 1999. Since then, two other directors have tried their hand at the property: Bryan Fuller in 2002 and Kimberly Peirce in 2013.
While it might seem like high time to let Carrie and her bloody crown actually get some rest, Flanagan seems to be on a mission to film King’s entire (incredibly large) oeuvre himself. In fact, Carrie is the third King adaptation that Flanagan has gestating right now. In September, the director premiered The Life Of Chuck, his adaptation of a short story from King’s If It Bleeds collection, at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it went on to win the audience award. Neon will release that film summer 2025. He’s also working on an adaptation of King’s iconic The Dark Tower series, which he said at Comic Con he’s building “one brick at a time.” In the past, he’s also adapted King’s novels Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining.
This doesn’t mean Flanagan is exclusively going to be a King director from now on, however. He’s just staying really, really busy. He’s also still plugging away at his Exorcist remake, which he promised would be “the scariest movie I’ve ever made.” The screenplay for that is apparently due November 1, but Deadline reports that the Carrie writer’s room is also “happening quickly.” Flanagan may need a ghostwriter (hehe) of his own to get all of this done.
