Spoiler alert: Spoilers for Prime Video’s Carrie follow. Mike Flanagan’s long-awaited adaptation of Carrie hit Prime Video on Oct. 7, and from the start, the series gave viewers a new look into the iconic story of Carrie White. One storyline that’s set up from the first scene of the new show is all about Carrie’s father, Ralph White. In Stephen King’s original novel (and previous film adaptations of Carrie), Ralph White is Carrie’s dad really only by name β readers don’t get much of a look into his character. The only established fact about Ralph White is that he’s killed in a construction accident before Carrie is born. In the 2026 Carrie series, though, the show opens with Ralph White’s death, which hasn’t been more than a passing mention in the past. Ralph’s death is similar to previous iterations, taking place on a construction site. However, some major differences point to Ralph’s death being intentional. So, who killed Ralph White?
In Flanagan’s new Carrie series, it seems like there are some supernatural powers involved in Ralph’s death. He walks onto the construction site, and viewers see him digging a large hole, but as he’s digging, rocks start slowly crumbling into the ditch. Despite the movement, it doesn’t seem like there are any major issues on the site that would cause that crumbling to happen. Soon after, a nearby pallet of cement blocks falls into the hole and kills Ralph.
Early on in the Carrie series, it’s easy for the viewer to assume Carrie somehow killed her father with her telekinetic powers β “the shine,” if you will. After all, she’s the one with supernatural abilities. But IMHO, this doesn’t check out for a few reasons. For one, Carrie had an instance where she tapped into her powers as a child β rocks rained down on her house after her mother caught her talking to her neighbor, Estelle β but besides that, it didn’t seem like she knew how to use them this early on in her life. Second, during that early instance, Carrie seemed to tap into her abilities in a fit of anger, which continued to be the case throughout the rest of the show. Considering Ralph White went to work early and his house was quiet, it doesn’t seem like Carrie was somewhere nearby in an angry rage. And finally β and most importantly β viewers learn throughout the series that Carrie really loved her dad. While we know his parenting was truly messed up, it doesn’t seem like Carrie knew that at the time of her dad’s death, and she wanted to preserve his memory.
So that begs the question: Who, or what, did kill Ralph White? In an exclusive interview with Her Campus, director Mike Flanagan gave fans a hint. He says, “I can tell you to pay close attention to the signage of the construction site that he walks into. There’s quite a big hint there.” The signage in question: LaMerk Industries.
What Is LaMerk Industries?
Stephen King fans may know what this is, but for those who don’t, get comfortable. LaMerk Industries is the name of the corrupt manufacturing corporation from the author’s Dark Tower series. The series is widely considered to be King’s magnum opus, and connects many of his written works in a much larger multiverse. Some of those written works include IT, Cujo, and Crimson King, and as Flanagan confirmed to TV Insider, Carrie connects, too. Flanagan said, “I do think this all exists on a certain level of the Tower, and Carrieβs place in that bigger world is something [King] hints at very much in the book. It was really exciting for us to be able to do that in practice and to really go into that.”
So, knowing LaMerk Industries is a hint for what happens to Ralph White, it’s possible that Ralph White’s death came at the hands of someone we may not even know yet. (After all, Flanagan is working to adapt King’s Dark Tower series in its entirety.) If you ask me, considering Emaline and the group of people with supernatural abilities exist in Flanagan’s version of Carrie but not the others, answers about Ralph White’s death may come from the expanded universe that they may be coming from. So, while it’s not clear how Ralph White died in Carrie, it may become clear as the Stephen King universe continues to make its way to our TV screens.