10 TV Shows Like Carrie You Should Watch Next
Do we need another Carrie adaptation? Maybe, maybe not, but the horrific bullying endured by the teenage protagonist of Stephen King’s first book is every bit as relevant now as it was back in 1974, and Mike Flanagan has proven himself to be King’s most skilled modern translator—and that’s before we even consider his other works. So we’ll happily give this series a chance before diving into those other shows to remind ourselves that growing up is hell.
Glory (2022)
Glory , a deservedly well-received South Korean project, has at least two distinct layers, and remarkably, it holds together remarkably well despite its abrupt shifts in tone. Most obviously, it’s a revenge drama with a relatively simple premise: Song Hye-kyo plays Moon Dong-eun, an elementary school homeroom teacher who’s playing a very long game: her bullies have grown up, and their children (at least some of them) are now under Dong-eun’s guardianship. Precisely where she wants them. It cleverly depicts Dong-eun’s past abuse (many scenes are difficult to watch), and how it has led to life-long PTSD. Her tormentors’ parents were too wealthy to allow the girls any punishment for their actions, so Dong-eun feels she has no choice. It could have been a revenge fantasy or a straight-up horror film about a woman exacting questionable revenge, but instead it’s a more nuanced story about school bullying, where the victim’s revenge takes a much colder turn than Carrie’s.Watch “Fame” on Netflix .
I Don’t Like This (2020)
Sophia Lillis, fresh off her role as Beverly Marsh in the It films (if you’re looking for a Stephen King connection), stars as Sydney Novak, a 17-year-old girl living in a small town with her mother and sister. Her father recently committed suicide; she’s in love with her best friend; and all she and her mother do is fight. In the midst of all this, she discovers she has powers triggered by her emotions, and she’ll have to learn to control both if she wants to make her life work. In the lead role, Lillis delivers brilliantly in this unusual coming-of-age story—the tone is more dark humor than horror, but Sophia definitely has her own Carrie-like moments before it’s all over.Watch I’m Not Okay With This on Netflix .
Wildlife (2020–2022)
In the detective thriller Wild Places , built between flashbacks and flashforwards (think Lost or Yellow Wasps ), a plane carrying teenage girls crashes en route to an empowerment program in Hawaii. It quickly becomes clear that the crash was staged and that the whole thing is a kind of social experiment, with the survivors forced to compete against each other if they want to survive. The series shows how young women are exploited and forced to compete in the real world, mirroring the horrors of the high school social hierarchy that dominates Carrie’s life. Watch Wild Places on Prime Video.
The Midnight Club (2022)
Perhaps the least talked about of Mike Flanagan’s Netflix projects, this one, predictably released near the end of his contract with the streaming service, is every bit as impressive as the others. Based on the young adult novel by Christopher Pike, the series follows a group of eight terminally ill young patients at an idyllic hospice run by a secretive and enigmatic doctor (Heather Langenkamp from “A Nightmare on Elm Street “). Each night, the children secretly meet to share scary stories, each promising to return from beyond the grave when the time is right. Creepy, funny, and impressively touching as a coming-of-age story about kids who know they’ll never grow up, the series wasn’t intended as a miniseries, but the ending is still quite satisfying.Watch “The Midnight Club” on Netflix .
Society (2019)
Kathryn Newton stars in this surprisingly witty film, based on William Golding’s Lord of the Flies , about a group of teenagers forced to create their own community after all adults disappear and a dense new forest emerges around their small settlement, cutting them off from everything and everyone else. It’s a film about growing up in a world where the rules no longer apply, and how we quickly reassert oppressive social order even when external forces no longer apply.Watch The Society on Netflix .
Stranger Things (2016–2025)
A reclusive, repressive upbringing for a young woman with impressive telekinetic powers? Carrie and Eleven’s stories unfold very differently, but that’s largely because they’re set in different genres—one a more introspective high school drama, the other a retro adventure about a government conspiracy involving demons and parallel universes. And yet! It feels like Carrie and Eleven would recognize each other through their trials, and there’s hope that the bullied kids of Hawkins will accept them both. You’re probably already familiar with Stranger Things , but just in case: the ensemble cast, mostly made up of kids, uncovers dark goings-on in their small Indiana town after a mysterious girl (Millie Bobby Brown) appears, demonstrating impressive, if frightening, abilities.Watch Stranger Things on Netflix.
It: Welcome to Derry (2025–)
The main connection here, of course, is Stephen King, who not only excels at situating horror in small towns but also at capturing the unique trauma of being a child trapped in that small town —Carrie and It are two of his best works in this regard. This It prequel is set in the 1960s and tells the backstory of Derry and the clown Pennywise through the eyes of the children who encountered him during his previous visit to the town. By the end of the first episode, it becomes clear that even the most charming children aren’t safe, and this show is going to be gritty, to say the least—and that’s before Bill Skarsgård’s memorably creepy Pennywise appears or before we delve into the secrets and lies of Derry’s adults. As in the book and previous film adaptations, each child has their own unique family and social struggles, and Pennywise plays brilliantly with these dynamics to make the children feel isolated and terrified. Watch Welcome to Derry on HBO Max .
Teach You a Lesson (2026– )
Hang in there, Carrie! Help is on the way! Well, okay… maybe if you lived in South Korea and the very specific world of this webtoon adaptation. After a rise in bullying, violence, and generally despicable behavior in high schools, including the murder of a teacher, the government creates the Student Rights Protection Bureau (SRBP)—tasked with reforming the school system BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. The team’s first assignment takes them to a school where a bullied student recently committed suicide, closely linked to the actions of a prominent politician’s son. What else can they do but uncover the father’s secrets, put the bully in his place, and leave him vulnerable to the consequences of his own actions? It’s a little less Carrie and a little more Avengers: High School Drama , but it’s a fun fantasy for anyone who’s been through tough times in the past.Watch Teach You a Lesson on Netflix.
Al-Rawabi Girls’ School (2021–2024)
In this Jordanian school drama series, Mariam (Andria Tayeh) is brutally bullied by the “cool” clique at her private school. The series is simultaneously universal and distinctly Muslim. Frustrated, Mariam convinces several of her fellow outcasts to join her in a plan of revenge, which quickly spirals out of control. The series directly addresses Jordan’s patriarchal system without drawing easy conclusions about its characters—Mariam tricks one of her bullies into sending her a revealing photo, which she promptly posts, exploiting the very repressive cultural elements she claims to condemn. It’s a smart and gripping drama with soap operatic elements (and a surprise hit for Netflix), with virtually no clear heroes or villains.Watch Al-Rawabi School for Girls on Netflix.
Chucky (2021–2024)
One of the most enduring horror franchises has taken the TV series route, with impressively clever results. Zachary Arthur plays Jake Wheeler, a gay teenager constantly bullied at school and abused at home by his homophobic father. Jake discovers America’s favorite serial killer doll at a garage sale as part of a school art project. Soon, Jake’s tormentors face consequences that far exceed Jake’s expectations, and he’s torn between fighting Chucky and descending into chaos. While the film’s tone is certainly different, Chucky’s violence feels like a more overt (and wittier) manifestation of Carrie’s powers—both teenagers are dealing with forces over which they have little or no control. Watch Chucky on Peacock and Prime Video .