Mike Flanagan’s take on Stephens King's Carrie is the fourth version of the story brought to screen (or sixth, if you include a sequel released in 1999, and the short-lived musical).
In the 50 years since, Carrie has been remade with Angela Bettis in 2002, Chloë Grace Moretz in 2013, and now Summer H Howell in Prime Video’s reinvention of the material.
As a result, several elements of the original novel have been lost – some of which are crucial to how the story plays out. Here are seven key elements of the original text missing from every version of the story to date.
1. Carrie was overweight
Originally, King describes her as "a chunky girl with pimples on her neck and back and buttocks". In the shower scene alone, where Carrie gets her first period, he details the 16-year-old as a "frog among swans" and "bovinely", noting teacher Miss Desjardin secretly considers her a "fat whiny bag of lard". Sue Snell calls Carrie a "big dumb pudding" to her face as she wails, believing she’s dying. It’s a deliberately cruel and callous set-up for the girl who’s been the school punching bag since the first grade.
But when Carrie was brought to screen in 1976, the depiction changed with Sissy Spacek in the role. She became slim, almost to the point of frail, and meek. Spacek herself noted to Hollywood Reporter in 2025 she had to fight for the role, so auditioned in a torn dress with vaseline in her hair to accentuate her awkwardness.
Now, Carrie’s arguably the most defining role in Spacek’s 50-year career, with her portrayal so haunting that every adaptation since has decided to adopt her version of Carrie. As a result, none look like the character first described in the novel.
2. Carrie had crushes
View Green Video on the source websiteRelentlessly beating her as her daughter weeps at her feet, Carrie’s mum accuses her of having "sinful thoughts" while reciting scripture, before dragging her into a prayer closet, locking her in for hours and demanding she beg for forgiveness after receiving "the curse of blood".
When her mother finds the picture under her pillow, she locks her in the prayer cupboard for hours, and when the other kids get hold of the letter at camp, she’s viciously mocked, crushing her self-esteem even further.
It’s also inferred she had a crush on popular boy Tommy Ross – which is part of the reason she agrees to go to prom with him.
3. Billy Nolan was so much worse in the book
In all cases, he freely dabbles on the wrong side of the law, is part of a gang, smokes weed, and has an active role in murdering the pigs to get the blood needed to later drench Carrie at prom. But in all instances, his involvement is done at the insistence of Chris, who in some cases trades sexual favours in exchange for his help in her attack on Carrie.
In other versions, he’s never seen attending the school, with the assumption being he’s older than school age as he’s also not aware of Carrie and what happened in the locker room.
View Green Video on the source websiteIt’s noted throughout the book that Tommy looked older than his peers due to how he dressed – but he’s actually just 19, and still attending Ewen High School as he had to repeat ninth grade. He’s also extremely abusive to Chris, and while it was her idea to get even, it’s him who spearheads the attack on Carrie, revelling in the opportunity to do so.
On top of that, he actively plans to sexually assault Chris at the roadhouse they’re set to hide in, days before committing the crime – and goes on to attack her on prom night. By the time they’re alerted to the catastrophic fires taking over the town as a result of Carrie, he had already sexually assaulted her.
4. Sue’s involvement in the Prom Night attack is debated
It’s shown as an act of altruism, with Tommy reluctantly going along with it, but having no ill will towards Carrie herself. While he doesn’t stop the bullying, he never has an active role in it, and as the popular guy in school, is aware his acceptance of her will aid the rest of the school in accepting her too.
However, the novel uses extracts from "other books" on the incident, and professional investigations including The White Commission (a government inquiry into what happened in Chamberlain), where it’s suggested Sue was in on Chris’s revenge plan to drench her in blood on the prom stage.
The White Commission also questions how she was able to find Carrie as she lay dying, implying she was perhaps involved in Carrie’s attack on the town and some blame lay with her, prompting Sue to ask: "Are you looking for the truth, or just a scapegoat?"
In extracts from her memoir, Sue doubles down that she did it as an act of kindness towards Carrie. She acknowledges she was involved in "some instances" of bullying throughout her time at school with Carrie, and wanted to try and fix it before they graduated. This is later confirmed by the story’s main narrative.
5. Carrie is also telepathic
This ability only really shows itself during Prom Night, with several survivors speaking to The White Commission stating they knew Carrie White was to blame for the atrocities in Chamberlain. When asked how they knew, no one can explain it, all simply saying they "just knew", with her name coming to them like a vague dream, even if they’d never met or interacted with Carrie before.
This has been completely eradicated from on-screen adaptations, though to be fair, it’s hard to show her sending messages to people’s brains, especially at a point in time where there is literal fire, brimstone and murder playing out.
6. Carrie tried to pray away the carnage
In on-screen adaptations, Carrie remains in the school gymnasium, drenched in blood, and starts enacting her revenge from the stage, setting it ablaze after locking people inside. She then leaves, with any other major incident in the town coming as a result of a direct target.
It’s only once she’s outside that she locks everyone in, and starts fires using sprinklers and exposed electrical wires. She then blows up gas mains and petrol stations, electrocuting townspeople who have come to gawk, leaving chaos in her wake before heading home.
"She prayed and there was no-one answering," the book reads. "No one was there – or if there was, He/It was cowering from her. God had turned His face away, and why not? This horror was as much His doing as it was Hers."
With no response, she leaves, burns over a dozen people outside with a fallen electricity line, before heading home to kill her mother.
7. Carrie didn’t die with her mother – and didn’t want to kill her
In the book, Margaret’s death is comparatively tame. When Carrie comes home to kill her mother, she realises Margaret is preparing to kill her, and suggests they both pray to try and end the bloodshed. When Margaret stabs her, Carrie gives her an unaggressive death, using her powers to slow down and ultimately stop her heart on the kitchen floor.
She’s eventually found by Sue Snell and dies in her arms, after one last telepathic exchange where the girls come to a mutual understanding about the difficulties in their lives. In a full circle moment shortly after her death, Sue – who fears she could be pregnant – gets her period as she walks away.
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