Carrie Returns: A Horror Story in a Changed America
Stephen King’s Carrie has been remade many times, but this new TV series stands out. It drops the story into a world just before DEI programs were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The change of setting does more than update the story. It changes who sits in the classroom, who feels like an outsider, and what the horror is really about.
The Shoe on the Other Foot
The most striking thing about the series is who fills the screen. In the original, the halls of Carrie’s school were almost entirely white. Here, the student body is overwhelmingly made up of diverse people, and white characters feel like the minority. Carrie White is one of the few, and the show makes her feel it.
For some viewers this will feel like the shoe is on the other foot. But it isn’t “reverse racism.” White Americans benefited from the nation-building of the United States, from land, laws, and opportunities that were not equally shared. Feeling like a minority in a room is not the same as being systematically shut out of a society. The series puts a white character in the position of the outsider, and that discomfort is where some of the horror comes from. It can be unsettling without being a statement about who has power.
Faith in the Shadows
Carrie has always been a story about religion, and the series leans into it. Carrie practices her faith, the kind of freedom the First Amendment guarantees. But in this version of America, religion has been pushed to the margins. It’s something practiced in whispers, in the dark, like bigots might whisper about gay people and traditional marriage, and faith itself is treated as something dark.
That’s where the show raises a real question. In a country built on freedom, everyone has to have that right, including people whose beliefs seem strange to their neighbors. Look at places where it isn’t guaranteed. In Russia, someone can be labeled “extremist” and can face years in prison for handing out a pamphlet about their faith. By that standard, the writers of the Federalist Papers would have ended up behind bars. Along with the writers of the US constitution. Carrie’s quiet, hidden worship is a reminder of how precious, and how fragile, that protection is.
A Girl Out of Time (Who Might Be Ahead of It)
Carrie lives an old-fashioned life. She sews and makes her own clothes. In the economy of 2027, that might turn out to be a useful skill rather than a quirk. Self-sufficiency looks different when prices are high and money is tight.
She was also schooled at home, which is something families have always been able to do. But to the diverse students at her school, it’s strange. Homeschooling, reading Anne Of Green Gables, and handmade clothing set her apart, and in the world of high school, being different is dangerous. The show makes clear that isolation can come from lifestyle as much as from appearance.
It Feels Canadian (Because Partly It Is)
The series has an odd feel to it, almost Canadian in tone. That isn’t a coincidence. Some of the house scenes were shot in Vancouver, B.C. One of the houses is the home of a victim in the horror movie It. Horror fans will enjoy spotting familiar locations, and the northern, rain-soaked atmosphere gives the story a muted, uneasy mood.
Drills That Feel Like the Cold War
The new Carrie includes school drills, and they are surreal. They recall the atomic bomb drills of the late 1950s, when children were taught to duck and cover under their desks. The difference is the threat. These drills are for an active shooter, something that is, tragically, a common occurrence today.
Seeing students rehearse for violence adds a layer of dread before Carrie’s powers ever appear. The cruelty at the school is at home in a world where children already live with fear.
The Message: Do We Stone White People?
Here is where the series gets controversial. The imagery is heavy. Carrie White’s house is pelted with stones, and at school she is pelted with hygiene products. It’s easy to read this as a message: we stone white people. The story seems to show a diverse school turning on its one white, religious outcast.
Taken that way, the series’ ultimate message is that DEI is bad, and the way Carrie’s classmates treat her is the proof.
The casting reinforces this. In the original, Carrie’s gym teacher was white, and she betrayed Carrie. In the new version, the gym teacher is Native American, and she betrays Carrie too. The parallel is deliberate, and it changes how the betrayal reads.
They stared. They always stared. Showers turning off one by one, girls stepping out, removing pastel bathing caps, toweling, spraying deodorant, checking the clock over the door.
A Larger Context
It should be said that real history complicates any simple message. Native American and Canadian First Nations schools are still segregated or not integrated today, a result of a long history of colonialism that continues to shape life now. And the world beyond the screen is no gentler. By 2027, imperial powers like Russia and China are still taking land, as Russia has done in Ukraine, harming the people already living there.
Final Thoughts
This Carrie is more than a remake. It’s a mirror, and what you see in it depends on where you stand. Some will see a warning about intolerance toward faith and tradition. Others will see a story about a girl who is simply different, and a school that doesn’t know what to do with her. Either way, it will get people talking, which is what good horror does.