Carrie, the first published Stephen King novel, has received several different adaptations, and even a sequel. Now it’s time for a TV series. FX is currently developing a Carrie TV series, but their approach to the material is going to change things up a bit. While all incarnations of Carrie White in the past have been of a cis white woman, FX is looking for a trans performer or an actress of color for their Carrie.

Collider has the scoop on the Carrie TV series, which will be a limited series that might feature “either a trans performer or an actress of color rather than a cis white woman” in the lead role of Carrie White. In King’s original novel, Carrie is a lonely outcast with telekinetic powers. Bullied by her cruel classmates and abused by her overly religious mother, Carrie thinks things are starting to look up with a popular boy asks her to the prom. But it’s all part of plan to play an elaborate prank on Carrie. The end result leads to Carrie unleashing her powers and murdering most of her classmates (and teachers, too).

Carrie has been adapted into several different films. The first (and best) is Brian De Palma’s 1976 adaptation that starred Sissy Spacek as Carrie. Then there was a 2013 adaptation from director Kimberly Peirce, starring Chloë Grace Moretz. The Rage: Carrie 2, released in 1999, served as a kind of sequel-in-name-only. And believe it or not, there was also a Broadway musical that ended up being a huge flop.

Should FX go through with this, it won’t be the first attempt to launch a Carrie TV Series. In 2002, a TV movie adaptation of Carrie starring Angela Bettis was released, with the intention of the film launching a TV series. In King’s novel (and all other subsequent adaptations), Carrie dies at the end of the story. But in the 2002 TV film, Carrie survives and leaves town. The ideas was that the show spun off from the film would follow Carrie on her travels, kind of like The Incredible Hulk TV series. Despite a script from Bryan Fuller, the TV movie wasn’t very good, and a series failed to materialize.

My knee-jerk reaction is to say this is a bad idea – that Carrie doesn’t really lend itself to the TV format. But I have to admit that making Carrie someone other than a cis white woman might actually be interesting. It certainly changes the dynamic of the character and her situation. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out.

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