Mike Flanagan gave four of the eight episodes of his Prime Video series Carrie to women directors, including his wife Kate Siegel. Kate Siegel, Axelle Carolyn, Kyra Sedgwick and Hiromi Kamata each directed 1 episode. Flanagan directed the other 4, and he said putting women behind the camera was “a deliberate choice” for “a story about female empowerment.”
In an October 7 interview, he explained: “the only thing I know less about being a teenager is being a woman.” He said it was “essential for this story of this young woman to be told by people who did know what they were talking about.”
Siegel, his wife and frequent collaborator, directed episode 3, “Social Studies.” Carolyn, who’d previously directed episodes of The Haunting of Bly Manor and The Midnight Club, directed episode 4.
Sedgwick directed episode 5 and was the only member of the directing team Flanagan hadn’t worked with before. Kamata, whose credits include Shōgun and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, directed episode 6, “Home Economics.”
Those perspectives also connect to the adaptation’s expanded world. Beginning with episode 2, each episode opens with a different woman discovering her abilities in another time and place. Flanagan said Stephen King, an executive producer on the series, was “very excited” about “that storyline involving the legacy of other powerful women.”
All 8 episodes arrived on Prime Video on October 7. Asked about more seasons, Flanagan said, “I don’t have a plan or a map for [more seasons]. I just have a lot of wishes.”
