Mike Flanagan’s new Carrie series on Prime Video has a problem that has nothing to do with pig’s blood or telekinesis. Viewers cannot stop comparing it to 13 Reasons Why. The comparison is not about the supernatural elements. It is about the structure, the cruelty, and the way both stories begin at the end.
The eight-episode series, which debuted on October 7, 2026, stars Summer H. Howell as Carrie White and Samantha Sloyan as her mother Margaret. It hit number one on Prime Video in over 105 countries and was renewed for a second season on October 22, 2026. The story follows Carrie as she enters public high school after a lifetime of isolation and faces a viral bullying scandal that ends in the infamous prom massacre.
That is where the 13 Reasons Why comparisons begin.
Trigger warning: This article discusses bullying, suicide, and school violence.
Both Stories Start With the Tragedy Already Done
Most shows save the big twist for the finale. Carrie and 13 Reasons Why do the opposite. They show the worst thing first and then spend the rest of the season explaining how it happened.
Flanagan’s Carrie opens in the aftermath of the prom massacre, with the town of Chamberlain on fire and 200 people dead. Long before viewers meet Carrie, they already know her world ends in violence and destruction.
13 Reasons Why opens after Hannah Baker has already died. Clay Jensen receives the tapes she left behind, and the audience knows from the first minutes that Hannah is gone.
A review from Soap Central explained the parallel clearly: “By revealing the tragic outcome in the opening minute, the focus shifts from what happens to discovering why it happens”.
High School Is the Real Horror in Both Shows
The supernatural powers get the headlines, but the day-to-day cruelty of high school is what drives both stories. Carrie White and Hannah Baker arrive at new schools hoping for a fresh start. Both are met with bullying, rejection, humiliation, and assault.
Carrie faces a specific trauma in the locker room when she gets her first period and believes she is dying. Her classmates turn the moment into a viral spectacle. They create the Carrie Red Instagram account, which posts her private secrets and humiliations for the entire school to see. The account grows beyond Carrie and starts targeting other students and even teachers.
Hannah Baker’s story works differently but hits the same nerve. 13 Reasons Why does not build her death around one scandal. Instead, a series of smaller cruelties piles up. Alex Standall’s “Hot or Not” list. Justin Foley’s false rumor about their first kiss. Tyler Down’s stalking. Marcus Cole’s unwanted physical contact. Each moment adds weight to Hannah’s pain.
A Tumblr post from a fan put the connection simply: “Theres so many parallels too with the bullying and the walk out and school dances etc.”.
One Uses Tapes, the Other Uses Social Media
The tools of cruelty are different because the stories are set in different eras. 13 Reasons Why uses cassette tapes. Hannah records 13 sides of tape, each explaining how one person contributed to her death. The tapes become the show’s narrator and its mystery.
Carrie uses social media. The Carrie Red account turns one humiliating moment into a permanent, public weapon. The bullying does not stop when school ends. It follows Carrie home every night.
Mike Flanagan has said the modern setting was the whole point. He wanted to show how phones and social media would make the cruelty worse, not better. A review on Letterboxd noted that the show’s tone feels “deliberately influenced by ‘Euphoria’ or ’13 Reasons Why’”.
Fans Cannot Unsee the Comparison
The comparison has become a running theme in fan spaces. A popular Tumblr post said the new Carrie is “giving 13 reasons why energy” and added that the student body is “rancid” in the same way.
Another post offered a darker joke about the difference between the two stories. “Carrie is a better anti-bullying message than 13 Reasons Why because she didn’t mail passive aggressive cassette tapes around to people who were tangentially involved she just psychically killed everyone who had ever hurt her and blew up half the town”.
A CBR review collected a five-star audience comment that called the show “the best ‘teenage’ type of show since 13 reasons why”.
The Key Difference: Supernatural Rage vs. Real-World Pain
The parallels are strong, but the two stories do not end in the same place. 13 Reasons Why stays in the real world. Hannah’s death is final, and the show examines the guilt and grief of the people she left behind. It became controversial for how it portrayed suicide, with Netflix adding warning cards to episodes after psychologists and educators raised concerns.
Carrie adds telekinetic powers to the mix. That changes the emotional math. Carrie does not just suffer. She fights back with a force that no bully can match. A reviewer at Armani Talks described the show as “Imagine 13 Reasons Why, except one of the characters has mystical powers”.
Still, the new series has its own controversial change. In Flanagan’s version, Carrie survives the prom and leaves town alive. Her mother Margaret is killed by a new character named Adelaide, not by Carrie herself. Some longtime Stephen King fans have criticized that choice because the original novel ends with Carrie dying after using her powers to kill her mother. One viewer on r/television said: “The tragedy of her character is that she WANTS to hurt people. It’s not an accident. It’s not someone else in control”.
What to Know Before Watching
All eight episodes of Carrie Season One are streaming on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories. The cast includes Siena Agudong as Sue Snell, Alison Thornton as Chris Hargensen, Joel Oulette as Tommy Ross, Josie Totah as Tina Blake, Amber Midthunder as Miss Desjardin, and Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle.
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13 Reasons Why is available on Netflix. The series ran for four seasons from 2017 to 2020 and stars Katherine Langford as Hannah Baker.
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