Mike Flanagan has explained the thinking behind the explosive finale of his Prime Video adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie, telling TheWrap that he deliberately spread responsibility for the prom massacre beyond its title character. “I think tragedies have many authors,” he said, adding that it was important to him that Carrie survive emotionally as well as physically.
The series stars Summer H. Howell as Carrie White, a homeschooled girl who starts attending public school. Flanagan, whose earlier King adaptations include Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep, and who also made The Haunting of Hill House, has mapped out three seasons. The prom climax follows the broad outline of King’s debut novel, but the scale of the destruction is closer to the book than to Brian De Palma’s 1976 film. While the novel’s death toll is roughly 440, the show’s climax kills dozens.
Much of the finale turns on Emaline, a witch played by Thalia Dudek who can astral project and whom only Carrie can see for most of the season. She belongs to a group of telekinetic women introduced by the show, who are present at the prom. Emaline assists during the massacre, but Flanagan stressed that she is not in control for every death, including the killing of Chris Hargensen, and that not all of the deaths are Carrie’s doing. Some moments, such as a locked door, cannot be pinned on any single person, he said.
The ending departs sharply from the book. Carrie and Emaline dance, a crater forms in town and follows Carrie home, and she reaches her house just ahead of the fire. Margaret White, played by Samantha Sloyan, does not kill her daughter and Carrie does not kill her mother. Instead, Carrie leaves with the physical Emaline as the fire spreads through the neighbourhood, and the witches later interview Margaret before one of them kills her.
Several threads are left open for future seasons. Sue Snell, played by Siena Agudong, is questioned throughout by an unseen interviewer voiced by Kate Siegel and points the inquiry towards who else was there. Ms Desjardin, played by Amber Midthunder, is thrown towards the fire but her body is not seen, and two witches from the prom are unaccounted for. Tina Blake, played by Josie Totah, survives and is interviewed by the witches, while Emaline’s mother Amanda West, played by Katee Sackhoff, had urged Margaret to kill Carrie before her powers grew.
