Mike Flanagan Just Revealed the Blueprint Behind His ‘Carrie’ and ‘The Mist’ Reboots
Mike Flanagan has built a career on turning Stephen King’s most beloved stories inside out. From Gerald’s Game in 2017 to Doctor Sleep in 2019 and The Life of Chuck in 2024, the filmmaker has become the author’s go to collaborator for bringing new life to familiar material.
That relationship keeps expanding. Warner Bros previously confirmed it was reuniting with Flanagan for a fresh take on ‘The Mist,’ based on King’s acclaimed 1980 novella, while Flanagan is simultaneously developing an adaptation of ‘Carrie’ as part of a new multi year deal with Amazon MGM Studios.
Now Flanagan is opening up about exactly how those two projects connect. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the director explained that his ‘Mist’ film will follow the same creative instincts he used on ‘Carrie,’ saying his way into the story, through it, and out the other side will look very different from what came before.
That mindset has defined Flanagan’s whole approach to King’s catalog. He has described taking on each project like disassembling a familiar structure and rebuilding it from scratch rather than retracing old steps, a philosophy that shaped his earlier work just as much as his newest projects.
The 2007 version of ‘The Mist,’ directed by Frank Darabont and starring Thomas Jane and Marcia Gay Harden, remains a cult favorite thanks to its brutal, widely discussed ending. The story originated in King’s 1980 anthology contribution before later appearing in his 1985 collection Skeleton Crew, and it also inspired a short lived television series on Spike in 2017, meaning Flanagan’s version arrives with plenty of prior interpretations to stand apart from.
Do you think Mike Flanagan's remakes will be better?
On the ‘Carrie’ side, Flanagan’s series is shaping up to be just as ambitious. Summer H. Howell has been circling the title role, playing a misfit high schooler navigating a domineering mother, a bullying scandal, and the emergence of telekinetic powers after her father’s sudden death. The project is set up as an eight episode limited series for Prime Video, expected to premiere this fall, giving fans a first glimpse of Flanagan’s revisionist style before ‘The Mist’ even reaches production.
Reactions online have already been split between excitement and skepticism, a pattern Flanagan has grown used to. Some fans have voiced frustration over yet another King adaptation while others have expressed eagerness to see the director’s version of a story they consider untouchable. Given his track record of transforming source material rather than replicating it, ‘The Mist’ seems poised to spark similar debate once more details emerge.
Between a new ‘Carrie’ and a bolder ‘Mist,’ Flanagan is clearly not interested in playing it safe with King’s world. Do you think this different direction will finally do justice to the story Darabont’s film left so many fans haunted by?
