Prime Video has officially given the green light to Carrie season 2.

The new series, which serves as a modern-day adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 novel, hit number one on Prime Video immediately following its October 7 premiere. Summer Howell stars as Carrie White, who goes to public school for the first time following the tragic death of her father. Upon entering high school, however, she makes an enemy out of Chris Hargensen (Alison Thornton), a deeply unhappy popular girl who decides to make Carrie's life a living hell. The unique take on Carrie not only makes social media the star of the show, but leaves the ending open for so much more to come.

"For 50 years, audiences have known and gravitated to Carrie White’s story. From the beginning, we imagined a story that goes far beyond the prom, and I’m incredibly grateful for Stephen’s trust and support in exploring what comes next," Flanagan said in a statement about the show's renewal via press release.

The filmmaker previously stated that he saw the adaptation as a trilogy, rather than ending with the White house collapsing and the high school burning to the ground - which is both how the novel ends and how every adaptation since has ended as well. We won't spoil you in case you haven't binged all eight episodes yet, but let's just say... Carrie's story is far from over.

Carrie is streaming on Prime Video now. For more, check out our guide to the best Stephen King adaptations and keep up with new horror movies on the way.

Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane has teased what's to come next from It: Welcome to Derry season 2, saying that it's "very different" from the first outing.

"We’re making something very exciting for season 2 that I can’t talk too much about, but it’s got a different palette," said Kane to Entertainment Weekly. "It’s the Depression, it’s 1935. Beyond that, I can’t talk about it, but you can imagine a Warner Bros. gangster picture through the lens of Pennywise and Stephen King. That’s kind of what we’re doing."

Fresh off releasing his new Friday the 13th prequel series Crystal Lake, Kane serves as sole showrunner on It: Welcome to Derry season 2. Kane served as co-showrunner on season 1 with Jason Fuchs, created by Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti. Kane confirms the team is "deep into the writers' room," adding, "We have multiple scripts, we’ve broken more than half the story for season 2, and we’re edging into pre-production... It’s very exciting. It’s very, very bloody, and it’s very different from season 1."

Season 1 was set 27 years before Muschietti's first It movie, in the 1960s, when Pennywise terrorised a bunch of kids after a boy disappeared, eventually leading to the devastating fire at The Black Spot. Season 2 is set to go back another 27 years to the 1930s, focusing on another dark piece of Derry history, The Bradley Gang Massacre.

The tragic event, which is mentioned in Stephen King's original 1986 novel, follows a band of criminals known as the Bradley Gang who robbed stores and banks in Derry, leading to a deadly shootout in the middle of the town. But when anything horrific happens in Derry, Pennywise is not far away, as he feeds on negative energy. According to King’s IT, Pennywise was present at the shootout, just like he was at The Black Spot.

Season 2 is still in the very early developmental stage, with an official synopsis and cast announcements yet to be made. It is expected that Bill Skarsgård will return as Pennywise. Beyond that, Andy Muschietti has already confirmed that younger versions of season 1 characters will be in the show. But due to season 2 being set almost three decades earlier, new, younger actors will have to be cast.

It: Welcome to Derry does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of the best shows on HBO Max, and keep up with upcoming Stephen King movies and shows on the way.

New Friday the 13th prequel show Crystal Lake includes as many, if not more, gruesome kills and gory moments as any other franchise entry, but showrunner Brad Caleb Kane says the line was drawn at nudity.

"I tried. That’s America. You can give the kids the violence, but God forbid they see some breasts," said Kane to TheWrap. "Sometimes you get overruled in these things."

Aside from Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives, the bulk of the Friday the 13th franchise shows a lot of skin, playing on that classic horror trope where having sex immediately puts you on the killer's chopping block. Although Crystal Lake has its fair share of sex scenes, some of which might make you want to turn down your volume if you have others in the house, we don't ever really see any bits and pieces, bar a bum or two.

Although Kane didn’t specify who overruled him, it sounds as though Kane would have continued the franchise's naked trend if he was able. But that isn't to say that the more mild intimate scenes have a negative effect on the show. Personally, I can take or leave sex scenes in horror movies. They often don't add a lot of substance, and many times are only there to entertain randy horror fans.

But what Kane was able to do is go ham with the violence and gore. From bursting blood bags to a deep-fried head, Crystal Lake doesn't hold back on the gore. Starring Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, the show explores Pam's relationship with her son and her grief when Jason is taken in a freak accident. But somewhere along the way, Pam's despair turns into revenge, leading her to do some questionable things.

When we asked Kane where he gets his kill inspiration from, the showrunner told GamesRadar+, "I just have a deep bench of kills in my head… at the end of the day the creative process is very mysterious. You sit down, and you go, 'How do we top the kills in the movies? How do we connect them to character and emotion? What will make the kills hit the hardest?' And that's kind of how you conceive them."

Kane already has ideas for new kills for a possible Crystal Lake season 2, though. And the goriest scene to film? For Cardellini, that was "The first scene where you see me covered in blood, that was really for me personally, was my goriest," says the star to GamesRadar+.

Crystal Lake is out now on Peacock in the US and on Sky and NOW in the UK. For more, check out our Crystal Lake review, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.

As well as exploring Pamela Voorhees ' backstory before she became the killer we met in the first Friday the 13th movie, the new prequel series Crystal Lake changes Jason's origin story. However, creator Brad Caleb Kane says he didn't see an issue in doing this as the horror franchise messes with canon all of the time.

"I mean, the canon itself is pretty inconsistent and pretty wonky, and there was no real origin set in stone," says Kane to GamesRadar+. There were sort of certain things said in the movies, and then in the novelization for part two, they talk about Jason's interiority, and they talk about him crawling out of the lake, and surviving in the woods off of this and that. But when you marry it with the actual time period of the movies, it doesn't quite match up."

The writer-director adds: "So it felt like you could mash it around a little bit. It felt malleable, and it felt like fresh snow that we could play with and have some invention there. Nothing is consistent in the canon anyway, so why not go back and play with it at all?"

Starring Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees, Crystal Lake follows the single mother living in a small town with her young, sickly son Jason. The show allows us to see Pam's descent into madness, but it also offers a deeper dive into the mother-son duo's dark past. In the penultimate episode, we go back to the late '50s in the midst of the Nuclear Arms Race. After a near miscarriage, Pam's husband takes her to a specialist facility known as Bellflower, where they run experimental trials on her fetus as part of 'Project Argonaut.'

Some years after Jason is born, Pam realizes that the company she has become embroiled in is actually experimenting on her young son, trying to turn him into a mutant being who can withstand anything, including nuclear bombs. The treatments are the reason for Jason's physical deformity and health issues. After finding out that her son is a military weapon, Pam saves Jason from the facility, and they run away to Crystal Lake, where they attempt to live a normal life. Well, that is until two men from Bellflower show up at her door, and we know how that went.

The series drastically changes Jason's origin story. In the movies, Jason's physical deformity is caused by hydrocephalus, a very real medical condition caused by a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. However, Jason's superhuman strength is never really explained. In some movies, Jason's strength is put down to him living in the woods for so long, and in later sequels, the villain gained supernatural abilities. But Crystal Lake offers an explanation for Jason's differences. He was quite literally made in a lab, like Frankenstein.

Crystal Lake is out now on Peacock in the US, and on Sky and NOW in the UK from October 19. For more, check out our Crystal Lake review and our Crystal Lake ending explained, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.

Even though Pamela Voorhees is the original villain in the Friday the 13th franchise, she is often forgotten. The mix-up is so ingrained in horror culture that in Wes Craven's Scream, Ghostface asks his first victim who the original Camp Crystal Lake killer is, to which she says Jason. Throughout time, Jason Voorhees has become a horror icon, while his mother faded into the background. That's why Crystal Lake creator Brad Caleb Kane wanted the new prequel series to focus on Pam.

"Well, we only see her for just a really short time at the end of the first movie. She talks about basically what's the foundation for the entire series, which is her relationship with Jason and how close they were," said Kane to GamesRadar+. "And then she gets her head lopped off, and that's all we see of her… It felt like there was more to explore there about that relationship with Jason. We hear about it very briefly."

The original 1980 Friday the 13th takes place years after a young boy died at Camp Crystal Lake. But when the site reopens, a mystery killer starts to pick off the camp counselors one by one. At the end, Pamela Voorhees is revealed as the murderer, who was seeking revenge for her son, who drowned due to lack of attention from camp staff. Pamela confesses her crimes to final girl Alice, before Alice cuts off her head.

Pamela's confession scene only lasts around 2 minutes. But it was that moment that inspired the new show. "It forms the basis for the whole series," reveals Kane. "But we never understand it dramatically. So it felt like a series could help us see all of the different facets of Pamela Voorhees and how this whole series kicked off."

Crystal Lake is set years before the first movie, starring Linda Cardellini as a young Pam raising her young, sickly son in a small town. But when Jason drowns in an accident at the camp, it sets off a disturbing chain of events that forces Pamela to confront her dark past and puts her on a path to becoming the killer we see in the movie.

When taking on the horror icon, Cardellini says she "looked at the past performances," but didn't want to copy Betsy Palmer's original portrayal of Pam. "It can be daunting because you're taking on something that people love. But at the same time, there's so much life for her to have," said the star. "Her performance is so amazing. It's so wild and captivating that I didn't want to try to mimic her." But Cardellini made sure to include "little nods and echoes of her" wherever she could to "honor the original."

Crystal Lake premieres on Peacock in the US on October 15, and on Sky and NOW in the UK on October 19. For more, check out our Crystal Lake review, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.

The thing about the Friday the 13th movies are they're not very good. Nightmare on Elm Street has innovative effects, Halloween pivots off the expert tension of director John Carpenter. But the first entry in the Friday the 13th franchise is mostly inert. It isn’t until later entries that it amps up the thrills and chills, realizing that the hockey-masked Jason is a ridiculous immortal slasher/wrestler in a funny way, rather than a scary way.

So, if you’re a high-end studio like A24, how do you build an entire eight-episode season of television as a prequel? You focus on the one element of the original movie that totally works: Betsy Palmer’s bonkers turn as Mrs. Pamela Voorhees. And thankfully, they found the perfect modern actress to play the iconic killer lunch-lady in Linda Cardellini.

Unfortunately, like the movie that came before it, that’s pretty much all that works about the meandering, mostly scare-free Friday the 13th prequel, which debuts after an extremely long and messy development and production process. Fans tuning in to see the lurid sex and violence of the best of Friday the 13th (it’s a sleepover/drive-in classic for a reason) will mostly be frustrated at the lack of the former (there’s almost no nudity, and relatively chaste soap opera-level sex), and put off by the latter, which relies heavily on digital trickery and the same sort of faces getting torn off in gruesome ways, episode after episode.

Even worse, some big swings that completely change the mythology and continuity of the film series seem entirely misguided. Adding a Stranger Things-style conspiracy element to the show isn’t going to bring in new fans, and it’s just going to annoy the older ones.

Mask off

We pick up with Pamela living with her son, Jason (Callum Vinson), who knows he's different from the other kids, but is very sweet and beloved by his mother. One day at Camp Crystal Lake, where she works as the lunch lady, Jason drowns thanks in part to the negligence of the counselors, though that doesn’t become a factor until much later in the season. A year later, the camp is about to reopen, and Pamela is still bereft, believing Jason is out there somewhere since they never found a body. And aside from going a little nuts at a town potluck, she’s pretty reasonable in her grief, calmed by the town’s kindly sheriff/romantic interest Levon Brooks (William Catlett). That is until she’s attacked at home by two armed thugs who have been tracking her – and Jason – for mysterious purposes.

There’s a burst of violence from Pamela, and more to come, as well as potentially other killers lurking in the wings. But other than walking us through Pamela’s increasingly brazen acts of brutality that she all but commits in the town square with no real interest from either the police, or Levon’s news reporter sister, Briana (Devin Kessler), who is investigating the overall conspiracy, there’s no "why" here. Is this about diving into the depths of madness to see where it comes from? Maybe – that certainly seems to be where the show lands in the final scenes – though a classic late-season flashback episode posits another, much dumber theory we won’t spoil here.

It’s also, unfortunately, not particularly funny. Or fun. Or scary. Everyone is playing this material dead seriously, from a weird little girl Pamela becomes obsessed with who seems to be a refugee from showrunner Brad Caleb Kane’s other horror prequel, IT: Welcome To Derry, to a group of hippies who seem like they wandered straight out of a high school production of Hair.

Horror – particularly slasher horror – needs the giddy laugh release of gruesome kills once the tension has been revved to unbearable levels. The rambling plot has none of that; the release isn’t necessary because mostly everyone seems confused about what they’re doing next, and why. Most of the deaths are perfunctory, and only one featuring a skinned body gets close to the proper level of gore for something like this, so it’s unfortunate it happens to a character who has been barely built up.

Mommie dearest

At least Cardellini commits 100% to the material, pulling from the other dark turns in her filmography that on paper make this role make sense. But coming on the heels of her Emmy-winning role in HBO’s oddball DTF St. Louis, Crystal Lake is a significant step down that isn’t worthy of her talents; she’s much, much better than this show. And while she elevates the proceedings, it’s also hard not to think what Cardellini would have done, and what could have been done with Cardellini, if original showrunner Bryan Fuller had been allowed to continue with his likely singular vision.

Alternately, what could someone like Ti West, or any of the A24 slate of directors who know how to channel grindhouse and shlock have done with this material, instead of the Lifetime with slightly more blood version we get here? There are attempts to ape the gritty, indie nature of the original movie (one shot mirrors an iconic kill in the original beat for beat in a later episode), but mostly it looks visually bland, rather than ripped out of ‘70s or ‘80s cinema.

But that’s what could have been, not what is. Instead, we’ve got an eight-hour-long prequel in place of the 90-minute kill-fest that Friday the 13th made its name on, full of perfectly fine performances and okay murders. Cardellini, like Palmer before her, is great in the role of Pamela Voorhees, making a solid argument that the series should have continued with her, not Jason. But even Cardellini can’t save Crystal Lake from drowning.

Crystal Lake releases on October 15 in the US, and on October 19 in the UK. Look ahead with our guides to most exciting upcoming horror movies and new TV shows heading your way.

Mike Flanagan's Carrie TV show has hit Prime Video in full, but its cliffhanger ending has fans thinking that a season 2 may be on the horizon. However, although Flangan admits to leaving the story open-ended, he did it mainly to honor Carrie White.

Warning, the following contains spoilers for the new Carrie series, so make sure you are all caught up before reading on. But first, check out our Carrie review first.

"As far as whether it could lead to something else down the line, my priority was always to get to the last frame of this season and honor the character and honor the arc and show the tip of the iceberg of that bigger world," said Flanagan to ScreenRant.

Based on Stephen King's hit horror novel, the show follows social outcast Carrie White with telekinetic powers. The show makes a lot of changes to King's original story, such as its modern setting, the focus on social media, and the fact that Carrie is alive at the end of the series, even though she dies in the book. You can read more about that in our Carrie ending explained. But Flanagan also adds a stack of mystery characters led by Kate Siegel, who we are never really properly introduced to.

Well, those women could be the focus of a possible Carrie season 2. "I do think there's a ton of potential for more, especially with those characters," adds Flanagan. "I think there are so many of those women who we meet, especially in 7 and 8, who I would love to know a lot more about. So I hope so, but I'm just worried about surviving season 1. We'll see how it's received."

Although Prime Video has yet to renew the horror show, Flanagan has previously shared wishes to make a Carrie trilogy. It also sounds like Carrie star Summer H. Howell is keen to return to the character and see her interact with other super-abled women.

"That'll be fun for the viewers and me to just get to see so many more women represented, and these powers are fun to play with," said Howell. "I hope she can also come back to the lighter version of herself, how she went into school with her openness and her eagerness for the world and exploring."

Carrie is streaming on Prime Video now. For more, check out our guide to the best Stephen King adaptations and keep up with new horror movies on the way.

Unlike other actors in past Carrie adaptations, Matthew Lillard and Amber Midthunder aren't too pressed about the fate of their characters in Mike Flanagan's new version of the 1974 Stephen King story.

Warning: spoilers for Carrie episode 8 ahead!

"First and foremost, in Mike Flanagan, we trust," Lillard tells GamesRadar+. "Like, if you ask him, he will have a reason. But I do think that it lends to the tragedy. [Carrie] is so overwhelmed. If you would think she could make choices, we probably would have lived. But she loses her control, which brings ultimate destruction of the entire town."

Lillard plays Henry Grayle, Ewen High's well-meaning principal who finds himself a bit in over his head when Carrie White becomes the new kid at school. Grayle soon realizes that Margaret White is no ordinary mother, and that Chris Hargensen is no ordinary teenage bully.

In the book, Grayle does not attend prom but presumably retires from education following the massacre. In the 1976 movie, Grayle (renamed Principal Morton) is electrocuted on stage at prom. He suffers the same fate in the 2002 remake. In Flanagan's version, the electrocution scene is quite long, and somehow way worse than the original film depiction (in my opinion, anyway).

"And I do think that it's sort of... not a morality tale, but it's a tipping point," Lillard continues. "And you can see how kids can possibly break. And also, it could become an allegory for what's happening with gun violence, what happens to kids, like they just can no longer stand what happens. And so I don't know, it really refers to a bigger moment."

Midthunder plays Rita Desjardin, the gym teacher who seems to be the only person looking out for Carrie. In the novel, she retires from education altogether after surviving the prom night massacre and suffers immense guilt from not being able to prevent it. In the 1976 movie, she's smashed to death by Carrie with a broken rafter after pushing Tommy out of the way of danger during the prom massacre. She survives the 2002 remake, as well as the 2012 remake.

In Flanagan's version, Rita is knocked backwards into the burning gymnasium after calling out Carrie's name in the middle of the chaos. We don't see her die, but we don't see her again after this.

"I like that we also see, like, not just that moment, but moments before that when Carrie sort of, she struggles with herself, and she struggles with sort of her power, right?" says Midthunder. "And we see her have guilt. Like this story, this iteration of Carrie has expanded. And in that, we get to spend so much time with so many of these characters, Carrie included. And I think you see everybody in a very different and detailed and humanized sort of way that makes the sort of picking, like who's good and who's bad and who are you rooting for, a lot more difficult."

Adds Midthunder: "And obviously that is credited to Mike, who approached this so thoughtfully and wanted to be so honest to obviously loyal to the Stephen King fans, but also to kids today. I think he really cared about sort of making sure that everybody felt seen."

All eight episodes of Carrie are streaming now on Prime Video. For more scares, here's our round-up of all the upcoming horror movies you need to know about.

Mike Flanagan says he opted to skip the infamous pig slaughtering scene in his adaptation of Carrie.

"Yeah, I didn't have much of a stomach to watch the pig get slaughtered," Flanagan tells GamesRadar+. "There's so much cruelty in the show, but it was also seeing the lack of horror on Chris's face that became more horrific to me. And seeing how far down that road she'd gone and her kind of fascination with that. Yeah, that was how we decided to approach it. I just felt like we've endured so much and are still going to endure so much on the show that to kind of hold an audience's face to the slaughter of the pig was..." he suggests, trailing off. "Plus, I just love how Alison played that."

In the 1974 novel, it's described, though not in explicit detail, that Chris Hargensen and her delinquent sociopath boyfriend Billy Thornton decide to break into a farm while the farmer is away and slaughter a pig for its blood. Why? So they can dump it onto Carrie White's head when she's announced as prom queen. In the 1976 movie, we see Billy (John Travolta) and Chris (Nancy Allen) excitedly kill the pig as it squeals to death.

In Flanagan's TV adaptation, however, the pig slaughtering is done off-screen during a pre-prom montage while an excited yet unfazed Chris looks on. Not to be that guy, but because Flanagan does have a bit of a history with dead animals in his TV shows (i.e., the dog in Midnight Mass and the kittens in The Haunting of Hill House), I kind of expected him to go all out with this one, especially since the pig scene is double-canon. However, he's right: the cruelty from all the human beings around Carrie is intense enough.

All eight episodes of Carrie are streaming now on Prime Video. For more scares, here's our round-up of all the upcoming horror movies you need to know about.

When adapting the 1974 Stephen King story for the digital age, Mike Flanagan says it was important to go all in on how social media and cell phones would only add to the cruelty Carrie faces at the hands of her bullies.

"Yeah, we talked a lot about how it changed when there were phones in people's hands, that scene especially. And in every other version, that's the first scene," Flanagan tells GamesRadar+. "And so one of the first things we kind of started to play with was, I think that's the end of the pilot, and I think we're gonna walk us into that. It's so tough to even imagine doing any story, any serious story about the modern teenage experience without engaging with the topic of social media because it is so ingrained in their day-to-day lives."

In the trailer for Carrie, we see the infamous scene – where Carrie gets her first period but has no idea what menstruation is, so she naturally believes she's dying. Instead of helping her, the girls in her gym class pelt her with sanitary napkins and tampons. In Flanagan's version of the story, the year is 2025... and the girls whip out their cell phones and film the ordeal, in addition to throwing things at her. It's a hard watch, but Flanagan says it was necessary.

"And the normalization of cruelty that comes with that was something that we really, really felt like we needed to talk about," Flanagan continues. "But yeah, it broke open a lot of things for us. I think that's one of the things I'm so impressed with about today's teenagers: I wouldn't have had the fortitude to survive.

I barely survived high school as it was. That was in the '90s. We didn't have to worry about any of this stuff. And I thought I was barely holding on by my fingernails. You know, I was a bullied kid too."

The new series sees Carrie White (Summer H. Howell), homeschooled until her teen years, begin public school for the first time. The story plays out the way we all know and love it, but the addition of social media makes it that much worse. In fact, it adds to the horror aspect in a way you would never expect. I challenge you to get through this series without crying.

The cast includes Samantha Sloyan as Margaret White, Siena Agudong as Sue Snell, Alison Thornton as Chris Hargensen, Amber Midthunder as Rita Desjardins, and Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle.

"I can't even fathom if I would have had to go to school daily," adds Flanagan. "And contend with all of my torments, all of my mistakes, all of my growing moments being potentially captured and shared for the world forever. I don't know how they do it. So I came out of it amazed with the fortitude of today's teenagers. Nothing but respect."

Stephen King took to Threads to praise Flanagan's modern-day adaptation, saying, "Mike Flanagan's version of CARRIE is brilliant. What it has to say about social media is shocking and true." You'll just have to see for yourself.

Carrie hits Prime Video on October 7, with all eight episodes in tow. For more scares, here's our round-up of all the upcoming horror movies you need to know about.

Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan play a version of Carrie and Margaret White that we've never seen before in Mike Flanagan's upcoming take on the 1974 novel by Stephen King.

"I don't know if I was surprised," Howell tells GamesRadar+ when asked if the changes to the original story shocked her. "I mean, I hadn't really heard of Carrie before, which I know, shocking. I've worked in horror since I was eight, so you'd think I would've, but no. So I kinda went into it knowing it had been made, asking, 'Why are we doing it again?' like everybody. But then reading the scenes and the scripts and seeing the humanity that Mike writes into these characters is just beautiful, and it made me want to be her so bad."

We all know the story: a bullied teenage girl named Carrie White has an abusive mother, a terrible time at school, and secret telekinetic powers. When Carrie kills her classmates after they outright humiliate her at prom, she ends up killing her mother in the process.

Flanagan's story (though we won't tell you how it ends) depicts Carrie and Margaret's relationship in a way that is much more humane and believable (not that abusive dynamics between parents and children are uncommon or unbelievable). Margaret still has no idea how to love Carrie, but she does know that she loves her. Her fundamentalist Christian ways, which include sentencing Carrie to the prayer closet instead of listening to her troubles, still get in the way of their relationship... but this version of Margaret is much more fleshed out, and it might make you cry (and this is coming from someone who started sobbing around 26 minutes into episode 1).

"When he talked to me about it, that was the first thing that he said. He's like, this isn't the Margaret White that you recognize. They love each other," Sloyan says. "And so that was so exciting because, one, it just freed me up to not have to compete with those performances and to, I think, give her so much more dimension because if we're doing it for 8 episodes, you really have so much more to explore. Once Summer and I met each other, I think that even deepened the connection more because we were able to bring, you know, the relationship that we truly have to the characters, which just gave it even more depth."

Keep in mind that King himself is a fan of the changes, writing on Threads: "Mike Flanagan's version of CARRIE is brilliant. What it has to say about social media is shocking and true." At a special WGA event attended by GamesRadar+, Flanagan noted that King isn't always a fan of drastic changes to his work... and we don't blame him. It's worth noting that the social media comment applies to Carrie and Margaret's relationship... and it may shock you.

Carrie hits Prime Video on October 7, with all eight episodes in tow. For more scares, here's our round-up of all the upcoming horror movies you need to know about.

Mike Flanagan has shared his hopes that his new Amazon series will run for multiple seasons. The Haunting of Hill House director is helming a new adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie, and it seems like it will extend far beyond the original story.

Speaking to Collider recently, Flanagan said: "In my dream scenario. I think it’s three seasons. In my dream scenario, I think Carrie has a wonderful three-step arc. It’s a trilogy, really.”

The Amazon show will follow Summer H. Howell's Carrie White as she goes to high school after spending most of her life isolated at home. It's far from an easy transition for the young girl who must navigate intense bullying in a modern world of social media.

It's not clear how he plans to divide up the story at this point, especially given that early trailers for the show seem to suggest it's hitting the main story points. Could Flanagan leave Carrie's story open at the end of his adaptation, or is he planning to expand the story beyond Carrie?

It's not yet clear at the moment because Carrie only hits Prime Video on October 7, when all episodes of the show will be available. Early reactions to the first episodes have been very promising with many praising how it brings the story into a contemporary setting.

Even King himself is a big fan, writing on Threads: "Mike Flanagan's version of CARRIE is brilliant. What it has to say about social media is shocking and true."

Next up for Flanagan is Clayface, the DCU's first step into the world of horror. For more scares, here's our round-up of all the upcoming horror movies you need to know about.

Despite radio silence for nearly four years, Mike Flanagan says his TV show based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower is still in the works.

"To do it the way I wanna do it requires an enormous commitment from a studio," Flanagan tells Entertainment Weekly, adding that the project is "still very much on the table." He also says that the move to Prime Video "didn't make it any easier."

In 2022, Flanagan ended his overall deal with Netflix following the cancellation of Christopher Pike adaptation The Midnight Club and announced a new partnership with Prime Video. In the initial announcement, Flanagan said he expected the series to take place over the course of five seasons, followed by two standalone feature films. This is quite a feat, and it sounds... expensive. I think we all know from 2017's live-action Dark Tower movie that it's one of the rougher King works to adapt, given its density and complexity. In Flanagan's case, each season would adapt a book in the series.

Flanagan acquired the rights to The Dark Tower while he was still under his contract at Netflix, and was secretly working out the kinks in terms of adapting the show, but it was never formally announced. The filmmaker has a lot on his plate, with his version of The Exorcist set to hit theaters in 2027.

Flanagan's latest King adaptation is Carrie, which arrives in full on Prime Video on October 9. For more scares, here's our guide to all the upcoming horror movies you need to know about.

When the new trailer for Crystal Lake arrived online earlier this week, fans hacked the first good look at Brad Caleb Kane's Friday the 13th prequel show to pieces. Beyond marveling at how great Linda Cardellini looks bringing Pamela Voorhees to life, fans worried about Jason's involvement and whether his origin story was about to change. Shots of lab doors and sterile buildings had die-hard fans expecting to learn that Jason was some kind of super soldier gone wrong or a government experiment akin to Eleven from Stranger Things. Thankfully, Kane took to Instagram in response to the trailer reaction and made it clear that, so far, all the fan theories were way off.

"It's not the CIA. He's not a gov't super soldier or an Eleven," assured Kane. "He’s probably just a Chud. Or at worst a Trog. In any case, all will be known Oct. 15. Y'know, they called Copernicus a heretic at first, too. And look how that turned out! Well, bad for him, I guess. Nevermind. Enjoy!!!"

So that’s that, then. The dust is settled, and we can be safe in the knowledge that Crystal Lake will be a good old-fashioned slaughter fest with no top secret conspiracy theory involved. Instead, the show will focus on the events of Jason's apparent demise at Camp Crystal Lake as a boy, and Pam's desperation to try and retrieve him even long after the rest of the town believes he drowned.

Unfortunately, the further Pamela's investigation goes, the more history looks to be dug up about this mother in mourning. No camper is safe, as anything with a sharp point or some weight to it gets used to bludgeon, beat, or perforate someone in an impressively gory fashion. Ah, just like the good old days at camp, right?

Be prepared to visit Crystal Lake when its doors open on October 15. If you want some scares while you wait, check out a ranking of the 25 best horror games worth playing this year.

Stephen King has given his seal of approval to the upcoming Carrie adaptation from horror maestro Mike Flanagan. The show reimagines King's 1974 novel in a new contemporary setting.

Posting on Threads, he wrote: "Mike Flanagan's version of CARRIE is brilliant. What it has to say about social media is shocking and true." Starring breakout star Summer H. Howell, the eight-part horror series follows a teenage girl called Carrie White as she joins high school after living in isolation for most of her life.

Unaware of social norms as well as key understandings about puberty, she becomes the target of bullying. However, Carrie is far from powerless as her mysterious telekinetic powers emerge to violent ends.

A new trailer for the show has just been released, which teases Flanagan's more modern take on the story. As it hits key plot points like Carrie's horror at discovering her period, she's filmed and posted all over social media.

This is the first time that Carrie has been adapted for television, and it's certainly intriguing to imagine what this format gives this classic tale. Early reactions have been very positive too, with the first two episodes called "powerful" and "relevant".

Discussing Film's Tyler Taing said at the time: "It's a big departure for both the source material and Flanagan’s reputation as the keymaster of King’s stories. It's a true modernization focusing on teenage anxieties and the cycle of violence in our digital age."

Carrie arrives in full on Prime Video on October 9, just in time for the spooky month of Halloween. For more scares, here's our guide to all the upcoming horror movies you need to know about.

In addition to Prime Video's upcoming Carrie series, the streamer is adapting another Stephen King story into a TV show, but this time we're heading to London.

Amazon Prime Video has greenlit a six-part limited series based on Stephen King's 1980 short story 'Crouch End,' as per Variety. The story is named after the real North London district in which it’s set, meaning the show will be the first King adaptation to be made in the UK.

The story follows a young American movie star named Doris Freeman who walks into a London police station one day and claims that a strange phenomenon is behind the disappearance of her lawyer husband. However, the police inspector Ted Vetter must investigate whether she’s telling the truth, or if she is the murderer herself. Either way, something chilling is at play.

Crouch End is thought to be an homage to legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, and contains distinct references to his works. The upcoming Prime Video show won't be the first time the story has been brought to life, as Crouch End was featured as part of TNT's 2006 Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King special.

The new series is adapted by Bodies' Paul Tomalin, and directed by The Serpent's Tom Shankland. Tomalin told Variety, "After reading Crouch End some years back, Stephen King’s vivid prose has haunted my nightmares ever since… couldn’t be more excited to bring this thrilling tale to the screen." Variety reports that casting is already underway.

Although Crouch End has yet to land a release date, King fans will soon be treated to Mike Flanagan's Carrie series based on the popular 1974 novel of the same name. The show, which recently attracted positive first reactions, follows a troubled teen with telekinetic powers and stars Summer Howell in the titular role. Carrie hits Prime Video on October 7.

For more, check out our guide to the best Prime Video shows, and keep up with all the upcoming Stephen King movies and shows on the way.

Almost 16 years since it debuted, The Walking Dead universe is taking a break from the never-ending zompocalypse for an alt-universe episode where the end of the world never happened.

In the Negan-and-Maggie-centric show's next episode (which airs on AMC in the US this Sunday), things take a turn for the multiversal when Maggie wakes up in a modern-day New York untouched by the undead. Not only that, but Beth (Emily Kinney) is alive and well, despite dying way back in season 5 of the mothership show.

So what's going on? At the moment, it's unclear, though given the lack of sci-fi elements in The Walking Dead universe beyond zombies, it seems more likely this is part of some dream or fantasy, rather than an actual alt-universe. But until Sunday, we won't know for sure.

It's all a bit like Lost season 6, if you ask us. In that sci-fi show's final season, the characters lived out alternate lives off-island (otherwise known as flash-sideways) that were eventually revealed to be part of the afterlife. Given the confusion Lost's final season caused (no, they weren't dead all along…), it seems unlikely that the team behind The Walking Dead would make a similar mistake.

The glimpse at the new episode, which is dropping two weeks after Dead City seemingly introduced talking zombies into Walking Dead lore (though that could be interpreted as Dillard's imagination), has confounded fairweather Walking Dead fans who haven't been keeping up with the ins and outs of spin-offs like Dead City and Daryl Dixon, which have been taking increasingly wild swings with the long-running franchise.

"I haven't caught up with The Walking Dead, where are the zombies?" asked one user on Twitter, echoing the sentiments of many. "You either end as Breaking Bad or live long enough to become Riverdale," added another, referring to the bonkers CW show's tendency to pull the rug in the most absurd ways.

Those who have been keeping up with Dead City season 3 offer a more level-headed response. "It's very clearly a Dream Sequence," said one fan. "Dead City has been pretty good this season. The writing and creative choices have all been pretty solid, so I'm intrigued about this episode. These new spinoffs not being bound by comic storylines is allowing for some creative stuff." Which is a fair point! Maybe we shouldn't write off Dead City's big swing episode too soon.

The Walking Dead: Dead City is currently airing on AMC in the US. A UK release date is TBC. For more, check out our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead in order and our ranking of the best Walking Dead episodes.

It's been nearly 10 months since It: Welcome to Derry premiered, and HBO Max has finally given it the green light for season 2.

HBO released a brief teaser, which you can watch below, that takes us all the way back to 1935... as season 1 took place in 1962 and It returns to Derry every 27 years (though keep in mind that this timeline is adjusted from the Stephen King novel in order for It to die in a more modern 2016, rather than 1985). Andy Muschietti has plans for two more seasons of the hit prequel series, which means a third season would take us even further back to 1908. We can expect this season to focus on the bloody massacre of the Bradley Gang, whose lore was touched on in the first season (and you know you've always wanted to see Pennywise dressed like a gangster holding a machine gun).

The series explores the origins of It and how he came to take on his favorite persona, which is none other than Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Season 1 holds an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, with reviews skewing mostly positive, with others taking issue with changes in lore, pacing, and how many times we actually see Pennywise in the show. Creator Andy Muschietti previously said that the new season will get even darker (as if the first season wasn't dark enough), and won't shy away from real-life topics i.e. The Great Depression and racial injustice.

It: Welcome to Derry season 2 does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our guide to the best shows on HBO, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.

Since being introduced in the unforgettable The Walking Dead season 6 finale, Negan has become a staple in the zombie franchise. But star Jeffrey Dean Morgan says there was one point when he almost walked away from the character.

"I felt like last year we really got bogged down in [The Walking Dead: Dead City] season 2. Negan especially, from my point of view, all I did was cry, and he’d lost his charisma and everything that made him Negan," said Morgan on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

Set a few years after The Walking Dead series finale, Dead City follows Negan and Maggie as they travel through post-apocalyptic New York City in search of Maggie's kidnapped son, Hershel. But due to Negan killing Maggie's husband partway through The Walking Dead main show, the dynamic between the two was always strained, meaning that along the way, Negan lost a lot of his cheeky personality.

"I just wanted Negan back. I wanted his humor and charisma and his smartness back in the show, cause I felt like it just vanished," added the star. Morgan says this led him to call the head of AMC on the last day of filming Dead City season 2, and basically hand in his letter of resignation. But the star was persuaded to stay. The spin-off brought on new writer Seth Hoffman, who Morgan says "injected so much" into the show, and took Morgan's concerns on board.

"I remember having my first phone conversation with him one-on-one, ‘What are you looking for? What do you want to do?’ And I was like, ‘Well, the dynamic has to change. There has to be more to it than she wants to kill me and I’m trying to make her not kill me and talk her out of it and save her son.’ We’ve done it."

Morgan returned to the character in Dead City season 3, which landed on AMC in July and is still airing weekly. Elsewhere in the universe, the fourth and final season of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon is on the way, and is expected to hit screens in 2027.

For more, check out our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead in order, and keep up with new TV shows heading your way.

It sounds as though It: Welcome to Derry season 2 will be even bloodier and more brutal than the first season, as co-creator and showrunner Andy Muschietti confirms the show will embrace the dark 1930s era it is set in.

The new season will take place in 1935, which we already knew, as IT the clown returns to Derry every 27 years. However, unlike Stephen King's original novel, which differs in timeline, Welcome to Derry season 2 will have to deal with the fallout of the great depression. "There’s gonna be a lot of that depression-era hustling in the air in our characters," said Muschietti to Variety. "Everybody’s trying to get by and survive the circumstances. They are gonna do crazy things."

"And of course, the social, cultural, horrible things that were happening in the era, too. We’re not going to skip those. [They are the] very center and the heart of our story." It sounds as though historical events will change the setup of the show too. Rather than following a bunch of kids around on bicycles, season 2 will embrace a different aesthetic.

"In this case, on the surface, Derry is a graveyard almost. It’s a carcass of something because people are depleted, poor, tired, jobless, homeless. The kids don’t have a suburban, comforting life. They’re in a very different situation," added Muschietti. Some of them are orphans or runaways, and so the environment is pretty bleak. But there’s always the aspect of hope that is always there, burning, and it’s what keeps our new group going.”

It: Welcome to Derry season 1 takes place in 1962, and sees the entity target some of the parents of the original Losers Club from the 2017 It movie. The first movie was set 27 years after Welcome to Derry season 1, and the second movie was set 2017 years after the first movie. But as the second film marks the end of the clown, now the only way to tell the story is backwards. After season 2, Welcome to Derry season 3 will jump back another 27 years to 1908, when It first took shape as a clown.

As outlined in King's works, each time It returns, a devastating event takes place. The first movie saw Bill's brother George ferociously murdered, and the second movie kicked off with a gruesome hate crime on a tourist. Then in season 1, it was the devastating Black Spot fire. Season 2 will focus on the Bradley Gang Massacre, following a group of outlaws who descended on Derry and caused havoc in the town.

It: Welcome to Derry season 2 does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our guide to the best shows on HBO, and keep up with new TV shows on the way.

Good news Stephen King fans, it looks like we can put doubts over horror master Mike Flanagan's upcoming Carrie adaptation firmly to bed, as the show has earned extremely positive reviews from a select number of critics who were able to see the series premiere over two months early.

"I saw the first two episodes of Carrie today, and any doubts I might’ve had vanished just a few minutes in," said Slash Film's Bill Bria. "Mike Flanagan is working his adaptation magic once again. Summer H. Howell is heartbreakingly great as Carrie. Relevant, reverent, & surprising. Can’t wait for the rest!,"

Due to King's 1974 novel being on the shorter side, fans were concerned there wasn't enough material to stretch over eight episodes. However, it sounds as though Flanagan has it gold again. Mama's Geeky critic Tessa Smith added, "All I can say is WOW! This is not at all what you are expecting. It is absolutely incredible, and I am dying for the rest of the episodes. Summer H. Howell is phenomenal. Such a relevant exploration of this story."

Then, when the trailer arrived at SDCC 2026, many viewers didn't know what to make if the modern setting. But, Discussing Film's Tyler Taing stated that the modernization of the story works in its favour. "It’s a big departure for both the source material and Flanagan’s reputation as the keymaster of King’s stories. It’s a true modernization focusing on teenage anxieties and the cycle of violence in our digital age."

"Flanagan is aware many people hold this story near and dear to their hearts," added Taing. "But I find his motivation to peer at today’s issues through the lens of these characters really compelling even if these choices might be controversial. I’m definitely seated for the rest!"

The upcoming series is the fourth Carrie adaptation, following the original 1976 movie, and the 2002 and 2013 movies. The show is created, written, and showrun by Flanagan, with King himself on board as executive producer.

Alongside Summer Howell as Carrie, the show also stars Samantha Sloyan, Siena Agudong, Alison Thornton, Joel Oulette, Josie Totah, Arthur Conti, Thalia Dudek, Amber Midthunder, and Matthew Lillard.

Carrie hits Prime Video on October 7. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Stephen King movies and shows for everything else that's on the way.

Even though most viewers going into the new adaptation will already know how Stephen King's Carrie goes, the first trailer for the upcoming Prime TV show gives a little too much away. However, one fan thinks they know why that may be.

"What if this is a 'Scott Pilgrim Takes Off' kind of adaptation where the entire plot of Carrie happens in episode one, and then it becomes about the aftermath?" said the fan on Twitter.

The first trailer, which you can see below, dropped this weekend at SDCC 2026, introducing fans to the modern version of the 1974 novel, with smartphones and all. However, to say this is the first trailer for a show that is set to release later this fall, it sure does show a lot, from the pivotal bathroom scene to Carrie's bloody prom dress.

The fan's theory does make sense. When the show was first announced, many King fans thought the story wouldn't be enough for a series, as the novel is on the shorter side by the author's standards, and fits feature length just fine. It also doesn't make sense for showrunner Mike Flanagan, best known for his horror shows The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor, and more, to let the cat out of the bag so early.

However, Flanagan may use the eight-episode series to explore Carrie's mental state, and the full effect that both bullying and living with an overbearing mother can have on a teen. As per Prime Video, "the series expands King’s cultural landmark — deepening its characters and tensions, and following the small, everyday choices that build toward a single, shattering night, in a gripping, deeply human story about kindness versus cruelty, and whether we’re witnessing the making of a hero, a monster, or something far more complicated."

We already know that the series will stray from the original tale in some ways, including when it is set. Unlike the novel or the original Carrie movie, Flanagan's Carrie White will have to deal with the pressures of social media on top of everything else. Nevertheless, horror fans should worry not, as King himself is on board as producer.

The show stars Summer Howell as Carrie, alongside Samantha Sloyan, Siena Agudong, Alison Thornton, Joel Oulette, Josie Totah, Arthur Conti, Thalia Dudek, Amber Midthunder, and Matthew Lillard.

Carrie hits Prime Video on October 7. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Stephen King movies and shows for everything else that's on the way.

The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman may not be a stranger to killing off beloved characters, but he knows who the real maester is: Game of Thrones' George R.R. Martin.

Speaking at Annecy (via Deadline), Kirkman said, "He is the master and I am but the learner. He is way better at killing characters than me."

But that's not for want of trying. While Martin may have made his name by putting characters on the chopping block – Ned Stark, Jon Snow (before his revival), and Joffrey Baratheon among them – Kirkman reveals he has a twisted sense of bloodlust, especially surrounding the AMC adaptation of his ever-popular The Walking Dead comic.

“When we started on Walking Dead I was the lunatic in the writers' room who was like, 'I don't know, just kill the main character, who cares? We'll do something weird.'"

That even extended to "pushing to kill Daryl Dixon for a while." Norman Reedus' Daryl Dixon went on to become a fan favorite, eventually starring in three seasons of his own spin-off series with a fourth on the way.

Kirkman added, "Any character in The Walking Dead, at some point I was in the writers' rooms saying, 'Why don't we kill them today?'"

The Walking Dead writer has continued his killstreak on the small screen with Invincible, which has left plenty of crushed skulls and unspooled organs in its wake.

But George R.R. Martin's work is matching him death for death. He may no longer be involved in the series after behind-the-scenes drama with showrunner Ryan Condal, but House of the Dragon season 3 featured plenty of casualties in its Battle of the Gullet premiere. One actor involved even revealed they had a specific request for their death scene.

For our verdict, check out the House of the Dragon season 3 review. If you're still playing catch up on Kirkman's bloodletting, we have a guide the best way to watch The Walking Dead in order.

The Walking Dead has given us its fair share of reunions in the past few years: Michonne found her way back to Rick; Daryl met up with Carol once more; heck, even Negan has his mitts on a new Lucille.

So, what of the horror franchise's big bromance? The Walking Dead boss Scott M. Gimple isn't ruling out Rick and Daryl sharing the same space once more.

"Absolutely still a hope," Gimple told Brandon Davis on YouTube.

"It's very challenging for a variety of reasons, which have everything to do with 2026 [style of] production. But things change very quickly."

Gimple even admitted he has prepared several (unnamed) possibilities for where The Walking Dead might go next.

He said, "I've drawn up all sorts of forking paths, [these] kinds of plans. It might be a minute, it might be tomorrow, I might be off at the retirement home. But I think eventually we'll get there. There's enough stuff to handle – source material, emotional, plot-wise, everything – that we could do something brilliant."

One stumbling block may involve Daryl's actor Norman Reedus. Upon the conclusion of filming the fourth season of the standalone Daryl Dixon show, he penned what felt like a definitive farewell to the character.

"It’s been such a joy for me to play this guy with all of [you] for this long. I feel really blessed. Truly," Reedus wrote.

Elsewhere, The Walking Dead story continues with Dead City season 3, starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan, which premieres on July 26.

If you're still playing catch up, shamble over to our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead in order. Then relive some of the series' finest moments with our ranking of the best Walking Dead episodes.

After 16 years of playing the fan-favorite crossbow-wielding survivor Daryl Dixon, Norman Reedus is walking away from The Walking Dead franchise after filming his final season.

On June 16, the star took to Instagram to share some behind-the-scenes snaps from The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 4, and said goodbye to the franchise. "I can’t wait for people to see this show," said the star. "The feeling of accomplishment when it was over was just amazing. Such hard work and so much heart put into this, I think you’re gonna feel it. It was a special season. I can’t wait for you to see it. It hits just way differently this time."

Now, we already had a feeling that Reedus would be exiting the franchise after this season. In July 2025, the Daryl Dixon spin-off was renewed for its fourth and final season. Then in November 2025, Reedus confirmed he had filmed his last scene. "Last filming day today for Daryl Dixon," said Reedus on Twitter. "It’s been such a joy for me to play this guy with all of u for this long. I feel really blessed. Truly."

However, many fans were holding out hope that the end of the spin-off wouldn't mark Dixon's last zombie venture. Even Andrew Lincoln returned as Rick Grimes in the 2024 spin-off The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live after he exited the main show early in season 9. Reedus then led the series for two more seasons. Since then, Reedus hasn't really had much of a break, so, understandably, he'd want to explore other projects.

The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 4 does not yet have a release date, but is expected to air sometime in 2026. The final season will conclude Daryl and Carol's (Melissa McBride) rather lengthy journey across Europe, as they try to make their way back home to America.

Next up for Reedus, the actor will star in The Black Swan writer Mark Heyman's psychological horror film Pendulum, and is set to be part of the third The Boondock Saints movie, which is currently in pre-production.

For more, check out our list of the best Walking Dead episodes, and our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead in order.

Have you heard? Widow's Bay is the next Martha's Vineyard and definitely not cursed. At least, that's what the Mayor of this quaint island town has been telling anyone who will listen.

There is something a little odd about this sleepy haven, though. Read between the lines of the brochure and you'll pick up on stories about a mysterious fog or a man who was bit by an animal and apparently became that animal. What should we make of that time in '42 when all the train workers suddenly disappeared? Or locals indulging in a little spot of cannibalism back in the 1800s?

Still, Widow's Bay sure is charming. That's something everyone seems to agree on, whether they're visiting the fictional New England island or tuning into Apple TV's show of the same name.

There's a reason why industry stalwarts such as director Guillermo Del Toro have described Widow's Bay as "the best streaming series in a long time". Acting on his recommendation, video game legend Hideo Kojima gave it a go too before declaring, "It’s been a long time since a series pulled me in this completely." And he's not alone either.

[Note: full spoilers for Widow's Bay season 1 follow]

What lies beneath

Like so many of the best Apple TV shows, Widow's Bay arrived with little fanfare, only to grow each week via word of mouth. Like the unnatural fog that rolls through town in episode one, Katie Dippold's show has seeped into our collective consciousness, cementing this series as one of the year's best already.

Attempts to compare Widow's Bay to existing stories don't really do it justice. It's Twin Peaks, but funny? It's Parks and Recreation, but scary?

Eerie supernatural occurrences do evoke the small-town horrors of David Lynch's masterpiece and it's worth noting the show did actually start out as a spec script that helped Dippold get a job on Parks and Rec (the legendary sitcom which Dippold was writing for at the time). Still, Widow's Bay is very much its own thing, transcending the various influences in its DNA, from The Office to The X-Files, to become something entirely special in its own right.

Much of that is down to the show's unique tonal balance, which you might have picked up on already in those aforementioned comparisons.

Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) is in denial when it comes to the paranormal, so desperate he is to boost local tourism and make Widow's Bay a place worth visiting. Never mind the ghostly killer clown or the Boogeyman serial killer who lurk in this town's darkest corners.

Loftis doesn't believe in any of it, not at first, but when a sea hag sits on his face at home one night, it's suddenly hard not to. How this scene unnerves as much as it amuses is a testament to the show at large (as is the decision to not drag out Tom's disbelief). Rather than tiptoe into the horror or throw some laughs in to break up the tension, Widow's Bay fully embraces both worlds, avoiding what could be spoofery in favour of a story that truly blends the two.

Frightfully funny

Widow's Bay is simultaneously the funniest and scariest show of the year, which is no easy feat. Most newcomers struggle to nail one, but Dippold and her team have knocked it out of the park on both fronts – and the secret to that success is how these two approaches work in tandem.

Much has been made of how laughing and crying are two sides of the same coin, how comedy and horror are both defined by timing. What makes Widow's Bay stand out, though, is how it treats them both as equally important. Punchlines and one-liners build and relieve tension throughout while grounding the show's genuinely quite horrific scares in a reality that's uncomfortably similar to our own.

For example, when Tom's colleague Rosemary (Dale Dickey) charts how the island's curse has worked its way through a local bloodline, hearing her drolly tick off "Dead baby. Dead baby. Lesbian," is peak comedy, even if the words themselves might suggest otherwise.

It's as if the mundane oddballs who populate offices in the real world and sitcoms alike have just been dumped into a Stephen King novel, nonchalantly addressing the supernatural like they might explain planning permits or who brought biscuits into the staff room. Never mind the unknowable evil that's been hidden in the basement. There is a literal demonic force that exists right below the feet of these municipal office workers, which speaks to how embedded the supernatural is in the very foundations of Widow's Bay.

Taken at face value, each of these supernatural threats is actually quite familiar, deliberately so, for the writers to subvert these horrors, building lore that scaffolds and subverts the typical monster-of-the-week format that was once so familiar to TV viewers.

Island strife

Sitcom tropes are also utilised, such as in episode four when Patricia (Kate O'Flynn) throws a party to become more popular. So far, so standard, but the monstrous turns this takes hit harder precisely because of how the format lulls us in with awkwardness and heartbreak. What was once a simple sitcom premise suddenly becomes a vehicle for unsettling folk horror that also digs into something real. Namely, Patricia's desperate need to be understood and accepted.

In a lesser show, Patricia's weirdo assistant would be sidelined or reduced to the occasional one-liner. Instead, Widow's Bay puts her front and center, transforming the underdog into a TV icon who ends up leading two of the best episodes aired in any show this year.

The second of the two, where Patricia is chased by the literal Boogeyman that's haunted her for decades, also brings with it one of the funniest moments of the year. "Oh, she's the worst," Patricia deadpans right after she tases a high-school bully from yesteryear. It's moments like this that confirm O'Flynn to be a breakout star worth rooting for, and the same could be said for pretty much anyone else in the supporting cast.

Rosemary, Wyck (Stephen Root), Ruth (K Callan)... each is more eccentric than the last, yet Widow's Bay never punches down with its humour. Instead, the unique strangeness of each character is fully embraced, just as we embrace the no-holds-barred performances that bring them to life.

Chief among them is Matthew Rhys, The Americans star whose expressions are a force unto themselves in this show. With each successive horror that Loftis faces, Rhys finds new facial configurations hitherto unseen on a human visage before. The true haunting on this show resides in the looks that he gives each episode rather than Widow's Bay itself.

That’s why each tonal shift works as well as it does: because of the people at this show's heart, be it the actors or seasoned directors like Hiro Murai who establish a visual style distinct to this series, one that can handle whatever the writers' room throws their way. Even the production design hides countless jokes, little Easter eggs just as clever as they are creepy.

In short, there's plenty to see and do for the curious-minded in Widow's Bay. And with that early season two renewal, there's plenty more to come as well, especially given how the finale reshapes everything moving forward.

So what are you waiting for? Head on down to the next Martha's Vineyard – which is definitely not cursed – for a grand old time. You'll never want to leave. You know, just like the townsfolk who were born there.

Widow's Bay is streaming now on Apple TV. When you've caught up with that, check out our guide to the 25 best shows on Apple TV for more great streaming.

The king of online film reviews, Hideo Kojima, has spoken, and this time the game developer is showing love to surprise Apple TV smash hit Widow's Bay.

Kojima took to Twitter to share his take. "It’s so incredibly good that I couldn’t stop, so I binged through Episode 9 in one go. It’s packed with horror elements, one after another. Fans of Stephen King and horror in general will love it. The pacing is excellent, and the balance between horror and humor is just right," said Kojima. "It’s been a long time since a series pulled me in this completely."

As well as recommending the show to Stephen King fans, Kojima went on to compare the new horror show to the likes of Steven Spielberg's Jaws and David Lynch's Twin Peaks franchise. Check out the full post below.

Kojima said he watched the show based on Frankenstein director Guillermo del Toro's recommendation, who tweeted out his own review of the series on June 1. "Widow's Bay may very well be the best streaming series in a long time… and hands down one of the most mesmerizing acts of narrative prestidigitation in Horror," said Del Toro. Well, that certainly is big praise from the Pan's Labyrinth helmer.

Set in a fictional New England island called Widow's Bay, the series follows a new mayor who attempts to attract tourists and breathe new life into the outdated town. However, the locals claim the island is cursed, which soon becomes apparent when a string of unexplainable, paranormal events occur. The series stars Matthew Rhys, Kate O'Flynn, Kevin Carroll, Dale Dickey, Kingston Rumi Southwick, and Stephen Root.

The show landed on Apple TV on April 29, but has slowly grown in popularity. Widow's Bay sits at an impressive 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and has already been renewed for season 2.

The final episode of Widow's Bay season 1 lands on Apple TV on June 17. For more, check out our guide to the best shows on Apple TV, and keep up with new shows heading your way.

Horror legend Guillermo del Toro says Widow's Bay is one of the best things to hit streaming in a long time, point blank period.

"If I may- in my estimation- #WidowsBay may very well be the best streaming series in a long time… and hands down one of the most mesmerizing acts of narrative prestidigitation in Horror," Del Toro tweeted.

The series follows Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys), the skeptical mayor of a fictional, titular New England island town, who doesn't believe in ghosts or curses or the paranormal... until he starts experiencing an array of supernatural occurrences that suggest his quaint little town is most definitely cursed. The core cast includes Kate O'Flynn, Dale Dickey, Stephen Root, and Kevin Carroll. The very long list of guest stars features everyone from Toby Huss to Chris Fleming and Betty Gilpin.

Widow's Bay was created by Parks and Recs writer Katie Dippold, who is perhaps best known by the chronically online as the woman who dressed up as the Babadook for a friend's Halloween get-together... that no one else was dressed up at.

The 10-part series currently sits at a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, and I have a feeling Apple TV Plus will definitely be renewing it for a second season. The first season is still airing through June, so we have a bit of time yet.

Widow's Bay is streaming now on Apple TV. When you've caught up with that, check out our guide to the 25 best shows on Apple TV for more great streaming.

Hideo Kojima is back with another new TV recommendation – and this time it's a Netflix show that's already out on streaming. The Death Stranding creator took to Twitter to share his thoughts on Korean horror drama If Wishes Could Kill.

"I finished all eight episodes of 'If Wishes Could Kill (GIRIGO),'" Kojima wrote. "It was really good. Like many recent series, it did have a 'flashback' episode (important for the story), but episodes 7–8 never lost momentum. It builds steadily toward a grand finale, tying up the characters' setups along the way with great pacing. The ending is full-on fan service, in the best way."

The eight-part show was written by Park Joong-seop and directed by Park Youn-seo and tells the story of a group of high school students who uncover the truth behind a new application. Called 'Girigo', it's a wish-granting software that starts predicting the students' sudden deaths. The group must then work together to try and stop the cycle of deaths by finding out who – or what – is responsible for the app.

This is actually the second time that Kojima tweeted about the show too after he wrote a lengthy review when he started bingeing it as he's a big fan of the director's previous show Moving. Calling it "incredibly entertaining", the game designer concluded that it "strikes a great balance between humor and horror, as well as friendship and betrayal."

Kojima is something of a king of TV and movie recommendations, often taking to social media to share his favorites. He's also known for polite silence when things don't quite live up to his expectations, as was the case with his Madame Web review…

For more recommendations of what to watch, check out our guides to the best Netflix thriller movies and the best Netflix shows to currently stream.

From season 4 has debuted to a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, making it one of the best-rated shows of the decade, with each season receiving a score over 90%.

The MGM Plus show stars Harold Perrineau (Yes, Mercutio from Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet!) as Boyd Stevens, the sheriff of a small town in America that traps anyone who enters... and the unwilling residents are left to fight off nightmarish creatures as they desperately search to find a way out.

Season 1 holds a 96%, with season 2 at 93%, and season 3 at 100%. Season 4 premiered on April 19, with MGM Plus swiftly renewing it for a fifth and final season. Created by John Griffin (who guest-starred on MGM Plus horror original The Institute), the cast includes Catalina Sandino Moreno, Eion Bailey, David Alpay, Elizabeth Saunders, Scott McCord, Ricky He, and Chloe Van Landschoot.

"This season, the hunter has turned the key just a little and heat up just a little bit more," Perrineau told Inverse, when asked about the highly-rated fourth season. “They are maybe the most evil hunter you have ever experienced. And that is the town itself."

Horror legend Stephen King has previously spoken out about the show, agreeing with a fan that From is one of the most "criminally underrated horror shows of the decade." The series has been nominated for numerous Saturn Awards, bringing home the award for Best Horror Television show in 2025.

For more, check out our guide to the best new TV shows coming your way in 2026 and beyond.

We're one step closer to welcoming Pennywise the Dancing Clown back to our lives, as Andy Muschietti confirms work is currently underway on IT: Welcome to Derry season 2.

Season 1 of the Stephen King spin-off was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2025, and it acted as a prequel to Muschietti's two IT film adaptations.

"It's 1935 – we're now working on it, and it's so much fun," Muschietti revealed at Deadline's Contenders TV panel for Welcome to Derry. "For the ones of you who read the books, probably the Bradley Gang sounds familiar. The Bradley Gang was a gang of bank robbers that – not accidentally, but they were on their way somewhere and they stopped in Derry to buy some ammo and something horrible happens."

We already knew the plan for Welcome to Derry was to focus on three pivotal events in the titular town's history, spanning three seasons. The first installment focused on the Black Spot fire, and season 2 will be about the Bradley Gang massacre, a shootout in Derry. Season 3 will be about the Kitchener Ironworks explosion, which killed 88 children on an Easter egg hunt.

"The Bradley Gang is based on the Brady Gang, which is a real-life gang of robbers that were executed in the streets of Bangor, Maine," Muschietti explained. "And now we're not creating the event that the big paroxysm of violence in this case will be the massacre of a Bradley gang."

As he went on to detail, the setting will be very different this time around, as the reality of the Great Depression means the familiar IT storytelling will have to change. "It's fascinating because the thing that is so much fun in this stage of development is that we're facing an era which is the Depression Era that changes dramatically the setup of things," he shared. "There's no suburban comfort – the trope of the kids that live in suburbia and they ride their bikes and suddenly one of them disappears is nothing like this. This is in 1935. It's a very dire situation. People are very poor. They're struggling to survive, so the setup will be very different."

There's no release date for IT: Welcome to Derry season 2 just yet. While you wait, check out our guide to all the most exciting upcoming TV shows.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan quickly wrote his name into The Walking Dead legend as Negan, the maniacal, Lucille-swinging villain who very quickly made an impact upon his on-screen debut in 2016.

But it could have been very different had the show's producers opted for their backup choice while Morgan was contemplating his next career choice: Scream and Scooby-Doo actor Matthew Lillard.

Speaking on The Big Thing podcast (via The Wrap), Lillard revealed that, after multiple callbacks, he received word that he wouldn't be considered for the part of Negan.

It wasn't until a few years later during a chance meeting at San Diego Comic-Con that Lillard found out how close he was to becoming The Walking Dead's most-talked-about villain.

“The creator of the show comes over, and he said, ‘You have no idea. You had the part for like 10 minutes. At that point, I would’ve had another 10 years of work.”

Lillard explained that his take on Negan would have been markedly different to the cold, calculating figure that graced our screens for six seasons of The Walking Dead, plus multiple seasons of the Dead City spin-off.

"He’s super masculine, and I just would’ve been more wicked and funny," Lillard said. "He was super badass and masculine. We would have had very different takes."

Lillard added, "That part goes on. He becomes a legend."

For his part, Lillard has showcased plenty of the villainous chops needed for Negan throughout his career, from Scream's Stu all the way through to Daredevil: Born Again season 2 and the enigmatic Mr. Charles.

The Walking Dead, meanwhile, is carrying on across multiple spin-off series, including Daryl Dixon season 4 and Dead City season 3.

For more, check out how to watch The Walking Dead in order.

Interview with the Vampire spin-off Talamasca: The Secret Order is the latest in a string of this year's TV casualties. AMC has canceled the show after one season, Variety reports.

"While we are not proceeding with another season of Talamasca: The Secret Order, we are proud of the series and grateful for the efforts of everyone involved," an AMC spokesperson told the publication in a statement. "The Talamasca has a storied place within the Anne Rice Immortal Universe, and we expect to see at least some of these characters, and the organization itself, in future expressions of the franchise."

Created by Mr. Harrigan's Phone director John Lee Hancock, the show follows Guy Anatole, played by Nicholas Denton, who has the ability to read people's minds. He's recruited to join the Talamasca, a secret society that monitors the activity of immortal beings, like vampires and witches, to maintain order with the mortal, human world.

Eric Bogosian, who plays Daniel Malloy in Interview with the Vampire, made a crossover cameo in the show, and Jason Schwartzman also appeared in a guest role. The show had a fairly lukewarm response from critics after it premiered in October 2025, with a score of 61% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Talamasca: The Secret Order didn't adapt any specific Ann Rice novels, like Interview with the Vampire and The Mayfair Witches, but instead created a new story around the organization that features in those novels. Elsewhere in AMC's Immortal Universe, Interview with the Vampire is returning for a third season later this year, and The Mayfair Witches has also been renewed for a third installment.

Interview with the Vampire season 3 arrives on AMC on June 7. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other best new TV shows on the way in 2026.

It looks like the Duffer brothers have struck gold again, as just over three months after their hit sci-fi show Stranger Things came to an end, the duo's new project has hit Netflix to positive first reviews.

The Duffer-produced horror series, Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, follows a young bride and groom in the week leading up to their disastrous wedding. The complete first season dropped onto the streamer in the early hours of March 26, 2026, and not long after, reactions from critics and audience started to roll in.

Digital Spy's Laura Jane Turner called the new body horror a "captivating," adding, "Despite some flaws and untapped potential to push its impressive themes a little further, it brings something fresh and original that's absolutely worth your time." Tom's Guide writer Rory Mellon goes as far as to liken the new series to Mike Flanagan's Haunting of Hill House, adding, "Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen appears to have come from the Alfred Hitchcock school of tension-building."

Many critics seem to be loving the wedding setting, as A Shot Magazine writer Mai El Mokadem said, the nuptials "curdles into something far more sinister – a blood-soaked, dread-filled nightmare." The Guardian's Lucy Mangan said the show highlights the horrors of commitment, and poses the question, "Can you think of anything worse than being trapped by sacred ritual to the wrong person?"

However, not everyone is a fan, as Twitter user Pramitheus pointed out that the show's bad lighting had an effect on their watching experience, and HuffPost's Candice Frederick said "Something Very Bad is Going to Happen should have been a 90-minute movie, not a series with 8, nearly one-hour episodes." Time's Judy Berman also said that the show takes "way too long" for something bad to actually happen.

At the time of writing, the show does not yet have a Rotten Tomatoes score, but has so far scored 63 out of 100 on Metacritic based on just a handful of collected reviews.

Led by showrunner Haley Z. Boston, with the Matt and Ross Duffer serving as producers, Something Bad is Going to Happen stars Camila Morrone and Adam DiMarco as the newlyweds-to-be, alongside Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ted Levine, Gus Birney, Jeff Wilbusch, and Karla Crome.

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen is out on Netflix now. For more, check out our guide to the best shows on Netflix.

The Last of Us has cast two important characters for season 3.

Deadline reports that Michelle Mao will play Yara and Kyriana Kratter will play Lev. The pair are Seraphites, members of the religious cult in Seattle that Ellie and Dina get a glimpse of in season 2. Lev is Yara's younger brother, and the character is trans in the game. The publication reports that this will be the case in the show, too, although Kratter is not trans.

15-year-old Kratter is best known for starring as KB in the 2024 Star Wars show Skeleton Crew, while Mao played Rosamund, the antagonist in the latest season of Bridgerton.

Lev and Yara are both important to Abby's story after the pair cross paths with her in Seattle, with Lev in particular being something of a moral compass for her. In a narrative switch-up, Abby will be the focus of The Last of Us season 3, and (if it follows the course of the game) we'll see the events of the second season from her point of view. That means diving deeper into what's going on in Seattle with the WLF and the Seraphites.

Other recent additions to the show's cast include Patrick Wilson as Abby's father Jerry, Jason Ritter as WLF soldier Hanley, and Clea DuVall as another member of the Seraphites. They join an existing cast list that includes Kaitlyn Dever as Abby and Bella Ramsey as Ellie.

In Abby's story, Jeffrey Wright returns as Isaac, with Tati Gabrielle as Nora, Spencer Lord as Owen, Ariela Barer as Mel, and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Manny (who takes over from Danny Ramirez). In Ellie's corner, there's Isabela Merced as Dina and Gabriel Luna as Tommy.

Filming is currently underway on season 3.

The Last of Us season 3 is expected to premiere on HBO in 2027. For more on what to watch, check out our guide to the other best new TV shows on the way.

Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller has confirmed that he's still aiming to get a fourth season of the show going over ten years after it ended with season 3, saying it's "still out there in the universe." He's also reiterated that he'd like to adapt The Silence of the Lambs with Zendaya in the lead as Clarice Starling.

"I would love to do a Clarice story," Fuller tells Screen Rant. "I'm a big fan of Zendaya. I think she would be an amazing Clarice Starling, and bring a completely different temperature and point of view to the character than what we've had before. I would love to get Zendaya and Mads Mikkelsen together in a Hannibal story."

Fuller also explains that he's still seeking the rights to adapt Thomas Harris' original 1988 novel The Silence of the Lambs. The original film rights for the novel had their own tangled journey to the big screen, with actor Gene Hackman attached to develop the movie and potentially star in it before director Jonathan Demme took the reins in 1991.

In the original film, which reached the highest echelons of critical acclaim, fledgling FBI agent Clarice Starling is played to perfection by Jodie Foster, so if Fuller were to adapt the book and bring in Zendaya for the role, she certainly would bring a different energy to the performance.

Though we're not sure Bryan Fuller's Silence of the Lambs/Hannibal season 4 will ever happen, we're certain these are the best horror movies of all time.

HBO Max's It: Welcome to Derry streaming show hasn't been officially renewed for season 2, but according to co-showrunner Andy Muschietti, it's all but a done deal. Speaking at a press conference following this year's Saturn Awards, Muschietti confirms that season 2 is definitely in the works.

"There's not much we can say but yes," Muschietti says at the press conference (via Nerdist). "We're very proud that the expectations are high after the first season. I think we're going to deliver something that is greater."

This is another check in the 'yes' column for It: Welcome to Derry season 2, following HBO CEO Casey Bloys reassuring fans that it's in the works, though there are still some questions about when it might go into production.

"Let me say, [it's] not in limbo at all. Hardly. It was a huge success for us," Bloys said earlier this year. "Andy and Barbara [Muschietti] are hard at work trying to come up with an idea for a story they'd want to tell for another season. I would happily do it. One of the challenges is, there's not a book that you're basing it on, so it's invention. They want to make sure that they have a story they're excited to tell. So it's not limbo other than they need to land on something they're excited by creatively. We'll be there."

Welcome to Derry is a prequel for Stephen King's novel It, which was adapted into two films by Muschietti. The show tells the origins of Pennywise, the monstrous clown who is the villain of the novel and movies, and how it ties inextricably to the town of Derry, Maine.

It: Welcome to Derry season 1 is streaming now on HBO. For more, check out our picks of the most exciting new TV shows heading our way or our round-up of everything we know so far about It: Welcome to Derry season 2.

Before The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live hit screens in 2024, The Walking Dead prosthetic artist, director, and executive producer Greg Nicotero says the team considered making a reunion show that would reunite original characters such as Rick, Michonne, Daryl, Carol, and more.

"There's been a lot of talks about that sort of reunion-type show," said Nicotero on The Brandon Davis Show in response to Davis asking if there was ever a plan to bring back Daryl, Carol, Negan, and Maggie to help Rick and Michonne fight the CRM and start a new world. "There have to be a lot of great characters. I mean, we've been talking about it for a couple of years, even before the Rick and Michonne show."

However, the team decided to use The Ones Who Live to conclude Rick's story. "The people wanted to see what happened to Rick. That was it. And I think that was the great part about it, the excitement of like seeing where Rick went and what happened because it was always intended that way," said Nicotero. "It was always intended that we follow Rick and we see where he goes."

There was even a discussion about turning the limited series into a feature. "It was going to be a movie. We're going to do a Walking Dead movie," said Nicotero. But it was decided that six episodes would suffice. The Ones Who Live ultimately gave Rick the happy ending that audiences wanted to see. At the end of the sixth episode, Andrew Lincoln's weary traveller reunites with Michonne and his daughter Judith after the CRM is destroyed, allowing the trio to return home and live in peace.

But The Walking Dead Universe is far from being over. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon season 4 has wrapped filming and is eyeing a 2026 release, and The Walking Dead: Dead City season 3 is currently filming.

For more, check out our ranking of the best Walking Dead episodes and get up to date with the franchise with our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead in order.

Yellowjackets has officially entered production on its fourth and final season with a typically cryptic teaser that calls back to the fateful moment at the end of season 3 in the flashback timeline, in which the stranded soccer team finally reaches a means of escape from the wilderness back to society.

The teaser, posted on the official Yellowjackets social media, also shows some quick, violent flashes of the teen versions of the main cast, along with the message "The Final Call," referring to the shots of poor, dead Natalie calling for help on a satellite radio, with a response finally coming through.

Check it out:

Yellowjackets tells the story of a high school girl's soccer team whose plane crashes in the wilderness while traveling to a competition. Things quickly turn desperate, with the teens eventually turning to cannibalism to survive and dividing into competing factions.

Alongside the ongoing reveal of all the brutality of the team's survival, the series catches up with the few surviving adult Yellowjackets, showing how the trauma of their youth has contributed to the chaos of their lives.

Yellowjackets was originally planned as five seasons, but given where season 3 ended up, it's not the weirdest thing in the world to move ahead with a final season before the chance to resolve questions that have lingered through the entire show.

Even though she's basically the housewife version of the Joker, I'll still be sad to see the continuing misadventures of Melanie Lynskey's frankly diabolical Shauna and her path of destruction come to an end. It's just too juicy and too rare to stop hungering for the drama.

No premiere date for Yellowjackets season 4 has been announced. While we wait, fill out your watchlist with our guide to the best new TV shows you need to know about.

Frankenstein's monster, the Wolf Man, Dracula, and more of the classic Universal monsters are coming to TV in a new Netflix show from Scream 7 writer/director Kevin Williamson which he describes as an "adult Vampire Diaries."

"Netflix and Universal were very kind to let me go direct Scream 7 and put some projects on hold and now I'm focused on those," Williamson tells Esquire. "The one I'm writing right now is a show. You might call it an adult Vampire Diaries. It's based in the Universal monster land. I get to play with some of those characters like Dracula and Frankenstein and The Wolf Man and have fun there."

Universal's classic monsters of the '30s through the '50s formed one of the first prototypical 'cinematic universes' with numerous crossover films. However, attempts to revive what Universal has sometimes dubbed the 'Dark Universe' have proven unfruitful. The best version of the concept is 1987's somewhat dated but still charming cult classic The Monster Squad, which pitted a team of Universal monsters led by Dracula against a gang of horror movie obsessed teenagers. It's more of a B-movie romp than a filmmaking achievement, but it's the only one that's made a dent in the last, oh, 40 years or so.

The last time Universal took a sincere swing at developing a modern version of the idea, it resulted in 2017's Tom Cruise starring reboot of The Mummy, which sank so hard it essentially tanked what was planned as a series of films that would culminate in an Avengers style crossover movie.

I've been a fan of the Universal monsters basically my whole life - one of the first movies I remember begging to watch as a very young kid was 1931's Frankenstein - and I'm not exactly enthused about the continued swings at a shared universe revival. Setting aside the melodrama of the Vampire Diaries comparison, it feels like missing the forest for the trees.

Universal's original monster movies didn't start out with the intent of turning into a proto-cinematic universe. It happened somewhat organically many years into Universal's monster movie tradition. What made it work was the history of classic films that stand on their own two legs.

Kind of like how 2012's Avengers, the work that so many failed cinematic universes have tried to copy, followed a series of films establishing the characters in their own right before mashing them together.

There's no word yet on when Williamson's Universal monsters show will premiere. In the meantime, check out the best Netflix shows you can watch right now, and stay up to date on all the most exciting new TV shows you need to know about.

Meta and XRTV's immersive 3D spin-off of A24 horror hit Talk to Me has pinned down its cast – and this time, it's actors from the likes of Rebel Moon and The Buccaneers who'll be messing around with sinister spirits.

As Deadline confirms, Aubri Ibrag and Charlotte Maggi have been tapped to lead the series, with Sofia Hublitz (Ozark) and Julio Peña (Berlin), Charlie Hiscock (Ted Lasso), and Jude Law's son Raff Law (Masters of the Air) rounding out the line-up. Production on the show, which is being created exclusively for VR devices, is currently underway in Spain.

The report also revealed a few more plot specifics, like it being set in Ibiza, where estranged besties Lauryn (Ibrag) and Keeley (Maggi) catch up with socialite Blake (Hublitz) and a couple of others for a wild week of partying in the sunshine. After picking up some drugs from a local dealer (Peña), though, their holiday soon turns into a hellish nightmare.

Craig William Macneill (Westworld, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) is set to direct all six of the half-hour episodes, while Danny and Michael Philippou, who wrote and directed the original movie, are on executive producing duty. Trent Atherton wrote the scripts.

Released in 2022, Aussie chiller Talk to Me centered on Mia (Sophie Wilde), who's still struggling to come to terms with the sudden death of her mother two years earlier. In an attempt to distract herself from her grief, she drags her best pal Jade (Alexandra Jensen) to a get-together, where fellow students, Joss and Hayley, are hosting another of their renowned séances.

With the help of a mysterious embalmed hand, the group take it in turns to open their bodies up to whichever deal soul lurks nearby. But not every ghoulie is benevolent – or happy to go back to the afterlife once their 90-second visit is over. A sequel, titled Talk 2 Me, is in development.

"There was this footage that I saw of this neighbor of mine that I watched for a while, and he was experimenting with drugs for the first time," Danny previously told GamesRadar+, which sounds interestingly more in-keeping with the show's premise. "He was on the floor having a really negative reaction to what he was taking, and all his friends that were with him weren't helping him though, they were filming him and laughing at him. That was a really big inspiration point."

While we wait for more news, check out our guide to the most exciting new TV shows heading our way.

Robert Kirkman will likely be dining out on this anecdote until the end of his career – and we're not talking about munching on brains here.

According to former Image Comics publisher Jim Valentino on Robservations with Rob Liefeld (H/T Popverse), Kirkman was once told "zombie books don't sell."

"Walking Dead from the time it was published had a positive sales slope," Valentino recalled. “And [Robert Kirkman] loves to tell this story, because I told him zombie books don’t sell."

In Valentino's defense, he added, "I wouldn’t consider Walking Dead a zombie book. It’s a survival book."

In a slightly more mortifying recollection for Kirkman, Valentino went through some of the legendary comic creator's initial title pitches for The Walking Dead.

“[Kirkman] hit me with the first thing which was, ‘I want to call it The Dawn of the Dead.’ No Robert, you can’t do that. It’s already a movie. ‘What do you think of Planet of the Zombies?’ Kirkman [then] says, ‘How about The Walking Dead?’ Boom. That's it. Call it The Walking Dead."

As of the last official count by Image Comics, The Walking Dead is up to over 45 million copies sold, as well as spawning a hugely successful TV show (which ran for 11 seasons on AMC), multiple spin-offs, novels, and video games, including the acclaimed Telltale series. Not bad going for a zombie book.

Next up for Kirkman is his job overseeing Invincible season 4, which includes an original storyline that never made its way into the comics on Prime Video. The episode features Steven Yeun's Mark Grayson coming into contact with a few hellish figures, including Damien Darkblood (Clancy Brown) and Satan (Bruce Campbell) himself.

For more, check out our guide on how to watch The Walking Dead in order and our picks for the best Prime Video shows.

The next Stephen King adaptation from horror maestro Mike Flanagan could have a very seasonally appropriate release date, as one of its stars has revealed its apparent release window.

Katee Sackhoff, who forms part of the cast of the show (and is also known for playing Bo-Katan Kryze in the Star Wars universe), revealed the news at Fan Expo Vancouver, as reported by The Direct.

"Back to Mike Flanagan, yeah... the Flanniverse... October of 2026, Carrie comes out on Amazon. You guys are in for a treat. It's very good. It's very good," she said.

Not much is known about Flanagan's Carrie series just yet, though, obviously, it's adapting King's iconic novel. In the book, the horror author's first, teenager Carrie turns prom into a nightmare as a consequence of vicious bullying.

Summer Howell will play Carrie White, with Mattthew Lillard co-starring as Principal Grayle. Samantha Sloyan will play Carrie's mother Margaret, with the rest of the cast including Alison Thornton, Chris Hargensen, Thalia Dudek, Siena Agudong, Amber Midthunder, Josie Totah, Arthur Conti, and Joel Oulette.

"I mean, it's Carrie. There's fire? ... There might be some blood," Sackhoff teased at the convention. "Yeah, I'm just excited. You guys are gonna love it. Mike Flanagan is, so good at what he does: smart, psychological horror."

She added: "And he's very, very good at adapting Stephen King, and Stephen trusts him. So, as you can tell in the press, Stephen's giving him his entire library. He's like, 'You can do this one and you can do this one. How about this one? How about this one?'"

Flanagan has already adapted the likes of Doctor Sleep and The Life of Chuck, and he's working on an adaptation of The Dark Tower, which Flanagan has recently said is "moving. We've got a lot of scripts done for it. It's the first priority."

While you wait for Carrie, check out our guide to all the upcoming Stephen King movies and shows for everything else that's on the way.

After 50 years of questionable sequels and remakes, the Texas Chain Saw Massacre may finally be back in good hands. Following the news that A24 is distributing a TV reboot of the iconic 1974 slasher, producer Glen Powell has promised genre fans that everyone behind the scenes is committed to "protecting" the horror franchise's legacy.

"I'm realizing I'm in a position in which, the things that I really love, properties that I really love and care about... Texas Chain Saw is one of, I think, the most brilliant horror movies," the actor gushed to Variety, while promoting his upcoming comedy-thriller How to Make a Killing. "It defined the genre and is such a part of that era. I feel that A24 is a place that's really making such special things, and they're such a custodian and guardian of quality. And we just really talked to the rights holders...

"J.T. Mollner, and we have some other creatives around it... they're just so passionate about what we're doing. They have a really strong vision. Everybody around it really cares and when you have that group mentality protecting something like that – I care about it, everybody cares about it – I know we're gonna do something really special with it, so I'm feeling very, very good. It was a long process to get there but I know we have something really fun ahead."

When asked whether he'd appear on-screen in the TV adaptation, or even the separate movie that was announced at the same time, Powell added: "You never know. I am known for wearing masks, between Chad Powers and Leatherface... But no, I really do think it's just something for Barnstorm to produce but I'm definitely going to be very involved."

Directed by Tobe Hooper, who co-wrote the script with Kim Henkel, the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre follows a group of 20-somethings who stumble across the home of a family of violent, weapon-wielding cannibals. While it initially earned mixed reviews from critics, the film went on to be a box-office success, pulling in over $30 million worldwide against its $140,000 budget at the time.

Over the years, it's spawned eight follow-ups, including the black comedy take The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre in 1995, two prequels, and a sequel set 50 years after the events of the first flick.

It seems unlikely that Powell's TV show will be a straight re-do, given Henkel's tease of "an epic tale lurking in the Chainsaw backstory" and Mollner, who'll be directing, previously stating that he saw the project as "a fresh way in" to the saga.

While we wait, check out our guide to the most exciting new horror movies heading our way.

The first trailer for Netflix's new horror series Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen is here, teasing a nightmarish journey into marriage inspired by genre classics like Carrie and Rosemary’s Baby.

Following the Stranger Things finale last month, The Duffer Brothers are back on the streamer as executive producers of this new show, with Haley Z. Boston on board as showrunner. The Night Manager season 2 star Camila Morrone plays Rachel, the bride, while The White Lotus' Adam DiMarco portrays her fiancé Nicky.

Per the official logline, "Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is an atmospheric horror series set at a wedding, following a bride and groom in the week leading up to their ill-fated nuptials. That’s not a spoiler – just read the title."

In the trailer, we see the pair taking a road trip to Nicky's wealthy family's vacation home ahead of their wedding, but things don't turn out as expected. "Prone to superstition and paranoia," the synopsis continues, "Rachel can't shake the relentless feeling that something bad is going to happen. Her foreboding doubts, coupled with a series of eerie coincidences and dreadful surprises, force her to ask the question: What makes two people soulmates? And worse – what could be scarier than lifelong commitment to the wrong person?"

According to EW, "each episode tracks a single day around this private ceremony, and each day Rachel’s paranoia and superstition, fed by an accelerating number of strange occurrences, ramps up."

Joining Morrone and DiMarco in the cast are Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nicky's mother, The Silence of the Lambs star Ted Levine as Dr. Cunningham, Jeff Wilbusch as Jules, Karla Crome as Nell, and Gus Birney as Portia.

Boston, whose previous works include shows like Baby Reindeer and Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, described the new series as an exploration of "the fear of marrying the wrong person through a horror lens" (via What's On Netflix). According to the showrunner, the goal is for viewers to "feel the paranoia and the fear that Rachel is feeling," deliberately "constructing the show in terms of her discomfort."

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen arrives on Netflix on March 26. In the meantime, fill out your watchlist with our guide to the best shows on Netflix right now.

The Last of Us actor Ashley Johnson, who surprised fans when she cameoed as Ellie's ill-fated mom Anna in the HBO TV show, says she "understands" the backlash to season 2 – but that "sometimes it feels not great" when players' passion for the games inspires such intense negativity.

When asked by The Direct about the response to the second chapter, Johnson, who brings Ellie to life in both Naughty Dog's The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II, said: "Yeah, I feel like with The Last of Us, people really love that story, including me, and it's very, very passionate fans. And sometimes that passion feels really great, and sometimes it feels not great. But you know, I understand it. I understand loving something so much, and wanting it to be what you want it to be."

She added that she "loves" The Last of Us "in every form" and that she's "so happy" she gets to "be a part of that telling of the story."

Johnson went on: "It can be hard sometimes, when you are making these things, and on your side of things, you're passionate about it, and excited about it, and hopefully that those two things can meet. Sometimes they do not. And that's hard, because I mean, anytime you're working on anything, you want people to like it, and you want people to love it as much as you."

While The Last of Us season 1 followed the source material pretty faithfully, season 2 took more creative swings – deviating from the games in regards to its structure, pacing, and diluting Ellie's quest for revenge. It said goodbye to Pedro Pascal's Joel, too, of course, which will have shocked viewers who aren't familiar with the games.

Even before it premiered on April 13, 2025, Craig Mazin, one of the co-showrunners at the time, admitted that he anticipated "furor" at the new batch of episodes. "I mean, there usually is, starting even with casting," he explained candidly to Entertainment Weekly. "We are not interested in creating social media fear. We just want to tell the story the way we think it should be told."

The Last of Us seasons 1 and 2 are streaming now on HBO Max. Be sure to keep up with The Last of Us season 3 with our handy, everything-you-need-to-know guide.

After the tragic death of Catherine O'Hara, The Last of Us season 3 showrunner Craig Mazin has confirmed that the late actor would have returned in the upcoming third season.

O'Hara played Gail Lynden in The Last of Us, a therapist whose husband Joel had killed.

"I don't think it's a big spoiler to say that she was gonna be in our show again, because of course she was," Mazin said on the Scriptnotes podcast. "She's so good. But she was stolen from all of us. The thing that's upsetting me is I don't get to see her in other stuff. Like, I don't care about my show. I wanted to see her in other things, cause what else was gonna happen?"

O'Hara died on January 30, 2026 from an undisclosed illness. Along with The Last of Us, she memorably starred in Beetlejuice, Home Alone, Schitt's Creek, and many more movies and shows across her storied career.

The Last of Us season 3 is switching focus to Kaitlyn Dever's Abby, which was teased in The Last of Us season 2 ending. "The fans are really going to like it, I think, the shifting perspective onto Abby, getting some more context onto her storyline and going back in time with this season. So, I'm very excited for the fans to see it," Dever said in January.

However, creator Neil Druckmann won't be as involved as in earlier seasons this time around. "It was right when we were about to start the writers' room for season 3," Druckmann explained. "I looked at what's in front of me, what would the next season might look like, and with all the various Last of Us things I'm working on – not just the show – with all the various games I'm working on, the biggest one that takes up most of my time is Intergalactic: The Heretic Profit, our next big IP for Naughty Dog and PlayStation, it felt like I could better serve all of my responsibilities if I stayed at a higher level."

The Last of Us season 3 doesn't have a release date just yet. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the most exciting new TV shows of the year.

It's been two months since It: Welcome to Derry's finale pulled in 6.5 million viewers and cemented the horror prequel as one of HBO Max's biggest hits – though it's still not been renewed. Fans needn't worry, though, according to network boss Casey Bloys...

"Let me say, [it's] not in limbo at all. Hardly. It was a huge success for us," the CEO recently told Deadline. "Andy and Barbara [Muschietti] are hard at work trying to come up with an idea for a story they'd want to tell for another season. I would happily do it. One of the challenges is, there's not a book that you're basing it on, so it's invention. They want to make sure that they have a story they're excited to tell. So it's not limbo other than they need to land on something they're excited by creatively. We'll be there."

Andy Muschietti, who directed multiple episodes of It: Welcome to Derry season 1 as well as big-screen adaptations It and It: Chapter Two, has previously said that the second season would center on the Bradley Gang Massacre, a bloody event that's briefly touched on in the interludes of Stephen King's novel It. With season 1 having fleshed out and recontextualized the burning down of the Black Spot, a similarly tragic moment in Derry's history, we can imagine more of the same in season 2.

"It takes place during the Depression in Derry, and there are some new characters and some characters from this season as well, but younger versions of them," Muschietti previously explained to Variety. While they're clearly still trying to figure things out, we can assume that that means we'll see fresher-faced versions of long-time locals Rose and Ingrid, who were played by Kimberly Guerrero and Madeleine Stowe in the existing eight episodes.

It: Welcome to Derry season 1 is streaming now on HBO. For more, check out our picks of the most exciting new TV shows heading our way or our round-up of everything we know so far about It: Welcome to Derry season 2.

Netflix has unveiled the first look at Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, the new show from Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers.

Per the official logline, "Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen is an atmospheric horror series set at a wedding, following a bride and groom in the week leading up to their ill-fated nuptials. That’s not a spoiler – just read the title."

Daisy Jones and the Six star Camila Morrone plays Rachel, the bride, while The White Lotus' Adam DiMarco is her fiancé Nicky. According to Entertainment Weekly, the pair takes a roadtrip to Nicky's wealthy family's vacation home five days before their wedding, and "each episode tracks a single day around this private ceremony, and each day Rachel’s paranoia and superstition, fed by an accelerating number of strange occurrences, ramps up."

The cast also includes Jennifer Jason Leigh as Nicky's mother, as well as Ted Levine, who's best known for playing Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs. You can see more images of the show below.

Haley Z. Boston is on board as showrunner, while the Duffers are executive producers. Boston has previously worked as a writer on shows like Hunters and Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, and compares her new show to Carrie and Rosemary's Baby.

The Duffers recently said goodbye to one long-running Netflix show, after the Stranger Things season 5 finale aired on New Year's Eve 2025. The final episode proved controversial, coming under fire from fans with some even launching a conspiracy, known as Conformity Gate, that an extra secret episode was on the way to serve as the "real" finale.

Something Very Bad is Going to Happen arrives on Netflix on March 26. In the meantime, fill out your watchlist with our guide to the best shows on Netflix right now.

The Last of Us star Kaitlyn Dever has teased her bigger role in the upcoming third season – and said she starts her prep for season 3 in just a few days.

"I'm getting mentally and physically prepped right now. I go up in a couple days, actually, to start prep over there," Dever told Deadline. "I'm so excited to kind of take on a much bigger role in the season."

The Last of Us season 2 ending saw the perspective shift from Bella Ramsey's Ellie to Dever's Abby, promising to take us back in time to show us Abby's side of the story.

"The fans are really going to like it, I think, the shifting perspective onto Abby, getting some more context onto her storyline and going back in time with this season. So, I'm very excited for the fans to see it," Dever added.

One of the biggest changes for season 2, however, is behind the scenes – creator Neil Druckmann has stepped back from the series (though he's still onboard as an executive producer), along with The Last of Us Part 2 game co-writer Halley Gross.

"It was right when we were about to start the writers' room for season 3," Druckmann previously explained of his decision. "I looked at what's in front of me, what would the next season might look like, and with all the various Last of Us things I'm working on – not just the show – with all the various games I'm working on, the biggest one that takes up most of my time is Intergalactic: The Heretic Profit, our next big IP for Naughty Dog and PlayStation, it felt like I could better serve all of my responsibilities if I stayed at a higher level."

The Last of Us season 3 doesn't yet have a release date. While you wait, check out our guide to all the most exciting new TV shows of the year.