October's streaming calendar arrives with a heavy slate of horror, prestige drama and superhero television, led by a new adaptation of Stephen King's Carrie from horror specialist Mike Flanagan and the season finale of HBO's Green Lantern series Lanterns.
Carrie, an eight-episode Prime Video series, moves the story into the present day. When telekinetic teenager Carrie White loses her father, she leaves home-schooling for a public high school where social media, cell phones and school shooter drills shape daily life — elements absent from the 1976 film and only lightly touched in the 2013 version. The series still includes the shower scene and the prom catastrophe, but it also takes unexpected turns, including Margaret White becoming an influencer and a more sympathetic portrayal of bully Chris Hargensen. Flanagan's move from Netflix to Amazon is described as off to a strong start.
Lanterns wraps its first season on HBO, with Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler as brothers John and Hal Lantern. The show has built momentum through a time jump to the modern day, DC Universe references and strong lead performances. The finale's key questions are whether the series sticks its landing and how much it sets up Man of Tomorrow and a second season.
Netflix's East of Eden, arriving October 1, is a new eight-episode adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, written or co-written by Zoe Kazan. It follows two families over decades and marks Kazan's step into the writer's chair, adapting the same work her grandfather Elia Kazan directed in 1955. The cast includes Florence Pugh and Christopher Abbott. Netflix has already placed Kazan in charge of a Lonesome Dove reboot.
Below, a six-episode Netflix series premiering October 8, stars Josh Hartnett as a fisherman trying to save the Newfoundland town of Snook's Arm from a seeming sea monster. The cast includes Mackenzie Davis, Charlie Heaton and Natasha Henstridge. Early reviews from TIFF call it gorgeously filmed and supremely gory, comparing it to a supernatural Jaws.
Animals, a Netflix crime thriller out October 9, is directed, co-written by and starring Ben Affleck as mayoral candidate Mark Kimball, whose son is kidnapped. He and his wife, played by Kerry Washington, have hours to raise ransom money tied up in his campaign. Gillian Anderson and Steven Yeun also star.
The month's lineup reflects streaming platforms' continued bet on literary adaptations, genre reinvention and star-driven thrillers as they compete for viewers during the fall television season.