SPOILER ALERT: This post contains major spoilers from the 2026 series “Carrie,” now streaming on Prime Video. Kate Siegel knows how to speak Stephen King. She was reading his work long before she probably should have, and has often retreated to it in times of need.
Her familiarity with King’s vast writings also meant she knew exactly which of his characters to draw upon when asked to play something completely new within his sandbox. Prime Video’s new version of “Carrie” isn’t the first adaptation of King’s classic tale of a childhood gone wrong, nor is it Siegel’s first time working with series creator Mike Flanagan. She’s married to the fellow King whisperer, and previously starred in Flanagan’s film adaptations of “Gerald’s Game” and “The Life of Chuck” –– not to mention all of his original Netflix series.
But when it comes to “Carrie,” she isn’t playing a single King creation, per se. Anyone familiar with the “Carrie” story knows exactly where the new series ends up after eight episodes. A reluctantly reclusive and telepathically gifted Carrie White (Summer H.
Howell) tries to assimilate into high school, only to be ridiculed and manipulated by the savagery of her peers. When she thinks she has finally won them over by being crowned prom queen, she’s doused in pig’s blood and unleashes fiery hell on her town. Nearly all the show’s storylines and characters are pulled directly from King’s text.
But among the exceptions is Siegel’s character, who is only heard as the narrator throughout the first seven episodes before making her onscreen debut in the finale. The character’s name is Adelaide, seemingly the headmistress of a home for gifted young women and the person behind the camera of the talking head interviews that have teased the terror to come all season. She’s interviewing the survivors of the prom night massacre, in search of the elusive culprit behind the carnage, Carrie, and her astral projecting enabler, Emaline (Thalia Dudek).
There are some women like this in ‘Firestarter.’ But we don’t know which way Adelaide’s going to go. We don’t know whose side Adelaide is on. We don’t know a lot about her, but I’m familiar enough with the type of women that Stephen King likes to write that I could sort of hum the melody of who she is.” Siegel and Flanagan spent plenty of time discussing the character, but he initially held back anything that might reveal who he wants her to become should the series continue.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
