Why Netflix’s Below Is the Perfect Follow-Up to Midnight Mass
- Filmmaker Mike Flanagan is expanding his streaming footprint beyond Netflix with a modern television adaptation of Stephen King’s debut novel Carrie, scheduled to premiere on Amazon Prime Video...
- Discussing the approach to the material with MovieWeb, Flanagan stated, I think we're going to tell a story that will be surprising and impactful, very relevant to our...
- Netflix’s upcoming vampire horror miniseries Below, slated for October 2026, serves as an ideal thematic follow-up to Flanagan’s 2021 critical triumph Midnight Mass.
Filmmaker Mike Flanagan is expanding his streaming footprint beyond Netflix with a modern television adaptation of Stephen King’s debut novel Carrie, scheduled to premiere on Amazon Prime Video in October 2026. The upcoming Carrie miniseries marks Flanagan’s fourth adaptation of a Stephen King property, following Gerald’s Game in 2017, Doctor Sleep in 2019, and The Life of Chuck in 2024.
Flanagan Brings Carrie to Prime Video
A Modern Retelling With King’s Blessing
Discussing the approach to the material with MovieWeb, Flanagan stated, I think we’re going to tell a story that will be surprising and impactful, very relevant to our modern society and to issues in our country.
The writer-director has confirmed the project will feature a modern setting, introducing elements like cellphones and social media to the classic narrative, and has secured King’s approval for the project.
Parallels to Midnight Mass on Netflix
Netflix’s upcoming vampire horror miniseries Below, slated for October 2026, serves as an ideal thematic follow-up to Flanagan’s 2021 critical triumph Midnight Mass. Directed toward similar isolation tropes, Below features Josh Hartnett as a fisherman named Calvin Penney, Stranger Things breakout star Charlie Heaton, and Mackenzie Davis as a visiting researcher named Fonda. The series is set in a remote town in Newfoundland where residents are besieged by a mysterious monster from the sea.
Echoes of Crockett Island
This setup mirrors Crockett Island, the sparsely populated setting of Midnight Mass, where the community changes following the arrival of a mysterious priest, Father Hill, played by Hamish Linklater, and a disgraced stockbroker, Riley Flynn, played by Zach Gilford. Both projects utilize isolated, tight-knit fishing communities disrupted by unexpected external paranormal threats, though Midnight Mass eventually subverted its initial creature-feature framing into an unconventional vampire story.
The Enduring Netflix Era
Flanagan’s extensive Netflix partnership ran from the late 2010s to the early 2020s, encompassing two entries in The Haunting franchise—2018’s The Haunting of Hill House, based on Shirley Jackson’s novel, and 2020’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, a reimagining of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. That era also included the youth-oriented YA series The Midnight Club in 2022 and the entirely original Midnight Mass in 2021. Beyond the Carrie series for Amazon Prime Video, Flanagan’s future slate includes plans to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower as a series and a planned remake of The Mist.
