Prime Video will excitedly tell you Mike Flanagan‘s Carrie is the “first-ever series adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic debut novel,” which is technically true. But Carrie has been adapted multiple times before, including to indelible effect in Brian De Palma’s 1976 film starring Sissy Spacek. However, considering Flanagan’s status as pop culture’s most devoted King collaborator, it’s not surprising to hear his take on the bullied telekinetic teen with a very challenging home life will be quite different than what we’ve seen before. None of Prime Video’s first-look images (including the ones Entertainment Weekly had the exclusive on; you can see the ones released to the general press below) show any of the story’s climactic gore. But Flanagan hinted at the horrors his series will contain, as well as his unique approach to the familiar material. “For me, this was never going to be a straight adaptation,” he told EW. “The only way to approach it was to build something new out of the ingredients of Carrie. Otherwise, there’s really no purpose in trying to retread ground that’s been so beautifully walked before.” © Prime Video © Prime Video © Prime Video © Prime Video © Prime Video © Prime Video Across eight episodes, the show will explore themes from King’s 1974 novel that are still timely today, with an added 21st-century twist, Flanagan explained. “Kindness versus cruelty, of empathy and bullying, and violence at school have become even more relevant today than he could have contemplated because of our relationship to technology and the degree to which violence encroaches on our high schoolers, especially in the United States.”