The frightening thing about Carrie has always been how much of its horror feels ordinary. Before the supernatural powers come the humiliation, the isolation and the adults who make a vulnerable teenager’s life unbearable.

Now, Mike Flanagan is bringing that story to Prime Video as an eight-episode series, scheduled to premiere on October 7, 2026. His adaptation revisits Stephen King’s 1974 novel with a contemporary setting and more room to explore the people surrounding its troubled protagonist.

The early critical discussion turns on a familiar problem for streaming adaptations: a longer story can offer greater depth, but does greater depth necessarily make it more compelling?

Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan lead the new adaptation

Summer H. Howell plays Carrie White, the sheltered teenager whose telekinetic abilities emerge amid bullying and abuse. Samantha Sloyan portrays Margaret White, her controlling, religiously fanatical mother.

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The Daily Beast’s review praises the adaptation’s emotional approach, describing a Carrie who has more social confidence and a Margaret whose fears incorporate contemporary conspiracy thinking. It also highlights the use of a documentary-style framework to revisit the tragedy.

Those changes suggest an adaptation interested in the environment that produces Carrie’s suffering, as well as the suffering itself. The mother-daughter relationship remains central to that story: home offers Carrie another source of fear when she desperately needs protection.

The bullying follows Carrie onto her phone

One of the clearest updates involves social media harassment.

According to The Verge, an anonymous Instagram account becomes a tool for tormenting Carrie. The review argues that this digital dimension gives the familiar story renewed relevance.

The implication is unsettling. Cruelty that once depended on a school corridor or a crowded classroom can now travel further, gather an audience and remain visible long after the original incident.

For a story built around public humiliation, that is a meaningful change in setting rather than a merely cosmetic update.

More time means more possibilities—and more scrutiny

The longer format also gives supporting characters greater attention. The New York Post’s review welcomes the additional development of figures including Margaret White and Chris Hargensen, while noting that some new material could divide viewers.

The Hollywood Reporter’s review headline, meanwhile, acknowledges Flanagan’s ability to expand the classic while questioning whether expansion was necessary.

That distinction matters. Explaining more about a character can enrich a tragedy; it can also interrupt its momentum. An adaptation of Carrie must balance the desire to understand its world with the pressure of a story moving towards catastrophe.

There are reservations about the supernatural additions, too. The Verge questions a subplot connecting Carrie’s abilities to King’s wider fictional universe, arguing that it weakens her agency.

A familiar tragedy with a contemporary question

Flanagan arrives with substantial experience adapting King, including Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep. His latest project gives him a different challenge: finding fresh emotional territory in a story many viewers already know.

Early reviews offer reasons for interest, particularly the modern treatment of bullying and the expanded character work. They also leave a question hanging over the series: will eight episodes bring viewers closer to Carrie, or put more distance between them and the devastating simplicity of her story?

A film about powerful technology executives became caught up in the business relationships surrounding them.

Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, starring Andrew Garfield as Sam Altman, was developed at Amazon MGM Studios. But when the studio decided against releasing it, the filmmakers faced an uncertain future. Neon eventually acquired worldwide theatrical distribution rights, giving the project a route to audiences.

The move attracted scrutiny because of Amazon’s financial relationship with OpenAI. TheWrap reported that Amazon’s withdrawal followed a $50 billion investment in the AI company through a cloud computing partnership.

That timing prompted questions about conflicting commercial interests. It does not, however, establish the reason for the studio’s decision. Amazon’s public explanation was that the film would benefit from another distributor, while expressing support for Guadagnino and helping the production find a new home.

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The people behind the technology

Artificial explores the relationship between Altman and OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, played by Yura Borisov. Its dramatic territory is the collision between idealism, ambition and the consequences of building increasingly powerful technology.

According to Vulture’s account, screenwriter Simon Rich developed the project with urgency, and filming took place largely in northern Italy. The production’s emphasis on personal relationships gives its technological subject a recognisably human centre: people making decisions whose consequences extend far beyond themselves.

Garfield’s transformation went beyond appearances

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Guadagnino described abandoning elaborate facial prosthetics after early tests. Garfield instead worked with Altman’s movements, posture and walk, supported by restrained makeup.

The director also chose to shoot on 35mm film, placing live performances at the centre of a story about artificial intelligence. Producer Jennifer Fox told the publication that the film’s assertions underwent extensive vetting. That remains the production’s account of its research process, rather than an independent endorsement of every dramatised scene.

A new home, and an unresolved question

Garfield welcomed the fact that Amazon allowed the film to move elsewhere. Fox, meanwhile, described the withdrawal as surprising after a collaborative production relationship.

Neon’s involvement resolved the immediate distribution problem. The wider question remains open: how freely can filmmakers examine influential companies when those companies also help finance and distribute entertainment? Artificial’s journey has made that question part of the conversation before audiences even enter the cinema.

The next chapter for Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery now has a leadership roster — and several familiar names will be taking on considerably bigger responsibilities.

David Ellison and Ynon Kreiz announced their senior executive team on October 5, ahead of the anticipated completion of Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The combined company will be called Skydance, with executives from both businesses overseeing its film, television, streaming and news operations. The appointments are contingent on the transaction closing.

The approximately $110 billion deal is expected to close on October 6, according to TheWrap. The announcement offers a clearer picture of how Ellison intends to run the enlarged business: retain established creative leaders while placing them within a new corporate structure.

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Bigger responsibilities for film and streaming chiefs

Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein will become co-chairs of the Skydance Motion Picture Group, overseeing a film portfolio that brings together Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros..

Meanwhile, Casey Bloys will serve as co-chair and chief content officer of Skydance’s direct-to-consumer division. George Cheeks will hold the corresponding creative leadership position at Skydance TV.

JB Perrette will span both divisions as co-chair and chief business officer, pairing the content leaders with an executive responsible for the commercial side of television and streaming.

For audiences, these appointments matter because the executives will help shape what gets commissioned, produced and distributed. The announcement itself does not establish changes to subscription prices, release schedules or individual programmes.

CNN and CBS News keep separate leadership

One closely watched decision concerns the company’s newsrooms.

Mark Thompson will remain chairman and editor-in-chief of CNN Worldwide, while Bari Weiss stays editor-in-chief of CBS News. Both will report directly to Ellison and Kreiz.

Reuters reported that the arrangement addresses concerns about Weiss potentially overseeing CNN. Thompson also told employees that he expected to retain his existing editorial responsibilities. Questions remain about how the news operations will function within the combined business, including the practical authority of an editorial independence board agreed under an antitrust settlement.

DC leadership stays in place

For DC Studios, the announcement preserves the partnership of James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-chairmen.

At the corporate level, Ellison will concentrate on long-term strategy, creative direction and investment decisions. Kreiz will handle day-to-day management and integration, with Andy Gordon serving as president. Paramount said a fuller executive leadership list would follow after closing.

The roster provides continuity at several prominent brands. The harder work begins when those leaders must turn a combined organisation into a functioning business — balancing creative ambitions with the demands of integration.