1974 Best-Selling Stephen King Novel Slated for Highly-Anticipated Amazon Prime Miniseries
In the early 1970s, Stephen King was an English teacher living in a trailer with his wife and two children and a stack of five unpublished novels. In 1973, a little novel he titled Carriewas received by Doubleday and published behind a $2000 advance for King.
Upon publication in May of 1974, the president of the New English Library read it in one night and acquired the rights to mass-market publication for $400,000 from the imprint. The $200,000 that King would receive from the deal would allow him to quit his teaching job, become a full-time author, and the rest is horror legend history.
Initial sales of Carrie were decent, however the novel would go on to become a bestseller after the 1976 film release starring Sissy Spacek as the titular character. Because of the boosted sales from the film, the book would go on to hit the New York Timesbestseller list, solidifying King as a debut author. Since its publication in 1974, Carrie has sold more than four million copies world wide.
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The novel follows Carrie White, a shy and sheltered 16-year-old girl in Chamberlain, Maine who discovers she possesses telekinetic powers. Carrie lives with her abusive and religiously fanatic mother, Margaret, who does nothing to protect her daughter from the intense bullying she's on the receiving end of at school. When Carrie is tormented by her fellow students on prom night, the cruelty from her peers causes her to unleash her powers in an act no one could've predicted, Carrie included.
Carrie has been adapted numerous times since the novel came out. The first aforementioned film was released in 1976, and would be followed by a sequel in over 20 years later in 1999 that was critically panned and a box office bomb. Two more film remakes would be released in 2002 and 2013, but neither received the same acclaim as the first initial film.
However fans of King are in luck, because Mike Flanagan, largely considered a master in the horror space, is taking the next swing at an adaptation of King's debut novel.
Flanagan, known for The Haunting of Hill House and more, has previously written and directed film versions of King's Doctor Sleep, Gerald's Game, and The Life of Chuck. According to Deadline, Flanagan's take on Carrie is, "a reimagining of the story of misfit high schooler, Carrie White, who has spent her life in seclusion with her domineering mother. After her father's sudden death, Carrie finds herself contending with the challenges of attending high school, a bullying scandal, and the emergence of mysterious telekinetic powers."
The Amazon Prime mini-series will consist of eight episodes and is starring Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan as Carrie White and her mother, respectively. The series is set to premiere in October of this year.
Related: Stephen King Calls This 1999 Film One of the Best Adaptations of His Work
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This story was originally published April 30, 2026 at 6:05 AM.