For fans of horror, October 2025 is shaping up to be a banner month—and Stephen King’s enduring legacy is at the heart of it all. Two of the author’s most iconic works, Carrie and It, are returning to screens in fresh forms, inviting both longtime devotees and new viewers to experience the unsettling worlds King first conjured decades ago. With the original 1976 film adaptation of Carrie streaming on Tubi starting November 1, and HBO’s ambitious prequel series It: Welcome to Derry debuting on October 27, King’s stories once again prove their power to haunt, provoke, and captivate.
Let’s start with Carrie, the story that launched King’s career and introduced his unique brand of horror to the world. According to reporting from Collider, Brian De Palma’s adaptation was not only the first King novel to make it to the big screen, but also the author’s first published book. The film, a classic in its own right, follows the tragic journey of Carrie White, a shy, bullied teenager who discovers she possesses telekinetic powers. Sissy Spacek’s unforgettable performance as Carrie is joined by an ensemble cast that includes John Travolta, Piper Laurie, Nancy Allen, Amy Irving, and William Katt—an ensemble that, in retrospect, reads like a who’s who of 1970s Hollywood.
De Palma’s Carrie is a time capsule of its era, both in its style and its cast. The director would go on to helm such iconic films as Scarface, The Untouchables, Carlito’s Way, and Mission: Impossible, but Carrie remains a touchstone for horror fans. The film’s impact didn’t end with its original release; it spawned a sequel (The Rage: Carrie 2), a television adaptation, a reboot, and even a musical. Now, as Tubi prepares to stream the film for free, a new generation will have the chance to witness the story’s chilling prom night—just in time to keep the spooky season alive well past Halloween.
But the story of Carrie isn’t finished. As Collider notes, Mike Flanagan, a frequent King collaborator, is developing a new Carrie series for Prime Video. Flanagan’s involvement promises a fresh take on the classic, and with his track record of adapting King’s works (including Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep), expectations are high for what he’ll bring to Carrie’s tragic tale.
While Carrie invites viewers to revisit the roots of King’s horror, HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry dares to plunge even deeper into the author’s mythology. As Entertainment Weekly reports, the series is the brainchild of Andy Muschietti, who directed the blockbuster 2016 remake of It and its sequel, It: Chapter Two. Muschietti’s fascination with King’s shapeshifting villain, Pennywise the Dancing Clown, led him to seek out the author’s insights during the filming of the sequel. In a moment that has since become legend, King confessed to Muschietti that even he didn’t fully understand Pennywise’s origins. “Andy, look…,” King said, according to Muschietti. The author’s half-joking admission underscored a central truth: the power of horror often lies in the unknown.
This embrace of mystery became a guiding principle for It: Welcome to Derry, which explores uncharted territory within King’s sprawling novel. The series focuses on the “Interludes”—sections of the book that flash back to Derry’s grim history, chronicling events like the burning of The Black Spot, a juke joint targeted by racists, and other mass tragedies that seem to coincide with Pennywise’s cyclical appearances. These Interludes, originally presented as diary entries by Mike Hanlon, the Losers Club’s historian, offered glimpses of the evil that has always lurked beneath Derry’s surface.
The HBO series takes these fragments and expands them into a full-fledged narrative, introducing a new generation of schoolkids in 1962 who investigate—and become prey to—Pennywise in all Its terrifying forms. Some of these characters bear familiar family names, tying the show to King’s original lore while allowing for fresh storytelling. Notably, the series features Chris Chalk as Dick Hallorann, the psychic cook from The Shining, who in King’s It survived the burning of The Black Spot. This crossover not only delights fans but deepens the interconnectedness of King’s universe.
Welcome to Derry doesn’t shy away from the real-world horrors that King’s novel explored alongside the supernatural. Racism, abuse, neglect, and homophobia are woven into the fabric of Derry, blurring the line between the monster’s influence and the darkness inherent in humanity. As Andy Muschietti told Entertainment Weekly, “All these events, it's like you can't really attribute them to It because they happen every day. Abuse, homophobia, racism, neglect... Every horrible event that happens in Derry in the book might as well happen without the monster.”
One of the show’s most intriguing motifs is the recurring appearance of turtles—a nod to Maturin, a benevolent force from King’s “macroverse” that helps the Losers defeat Pennywise in the novel. The turtle, a symbol of cosmic balance and goodness, offers a subtle counterpoint to the evil embodied by Pennywise. Muschietti’s curiosity about this aspect of the mythology led to his fateful conversation with King, who admitted that even he didn’t have all the answers. But as the showrunner Jason Fuchs and co-producer Brad Caleb Kane have promised, Welcome to Derry will delve into these mysteries while preserving the enigmatic spirit that makes King’s work so enduring.
King himself has remained closely involved with the series, retaining veto power over scripts and offering enthusiastic support. He praised the series on Threads, writing, “Welcome to Derry is amazing. First episode is terrifying.” The show’s creative team has taken this endorsement as a green light to push boundaries, exploring both the supernatural and the all-too-human evils that define Derry.
The simultaneous resurgence of Carrie and It on streaming platforms speaks to the timeless appeal of King’s stories. Whether it’s the intimate, personal horror of a girl pushed to her breaking point or the cosmic terror of an ancient evil lurking beneath a small town, King’s tales continue to resonate. As new adaptations breathe life into these classics, audiences are reminded that some nightmares never fade—they simply evolve, finding new ways to unsettle and enthrall.
With Carrie streaming on Tubi and Welcome to Derry premiering on HBO, viewers are in for a season of chills, nostalgia, and fresh horrors. For Stephen King, whose imagination birthed these unforgettable stories, the journey from page to screen is far from over.
