Original-Cin Q&A: Actors Matthew Lillard, Samantha Sloyan On Rebooting Stephen King’s Carrie

By Bonnie Laufer

Reimagining a Stephen King classic is no easy task, but in director Mike Flanagan’s new series Carrie, veteran actors Samantha Sloyan and Matthew Lillard take on two key pillars in Carrie White's tragic world.

Sloyan steps into the formidable shoes of Carrie’s domineering mother Margaret White, played so memorably by Piper Laurie in the original film and for which she received an Oscar nod. Lillard meanwhile brings a much-needed grounding force as Ewen High's Principal Grayle. Original-Cin sat down with both actors to discuss taking on these iconic roles, working with Flanagan, and bringing a modern horror vision to life.

All eight episodes of Carrie are available to stream beginning October 7, exclusively on Prime Video.

Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan

ORIGINAL-CIN: When you first read Mike Flanagan’s version of Margaret White, what was your initial reaction? Having worked with him before, were you less nervous to take on this iconic character?

SAMANTHA SLOYAN: When something has been done so beautifully, you're kind of like, ‘What am I going to bring to it?’ But Mike was so helpful; he spoke to me about it before I got the chance to read it. He said, ‘My vision for this is different. We're starting with a mother and daughter who love each other, and that's the foundation.’ Not only is it more terrifying and more heartbreaking when that is the case, but it gave me that in the whole eight episodes to develop this relationship. It just gives you so many opportunities to explore what all those different avenues look like. It all comes from a point of view of love, which I think is a big difference.

O-C: Matthew, your character, the high school principal, has a lot on his shoulders. But I think the scariest part of this whole series is the social media bullying. What was that like for you?

MATTHEW LILLARD: I have three kids so the script really hit me hard. I live in a world where social media is an active part of my career. I use it as a tool, and I and I reap the benefits, and I suffer the pains and the arrows from it. Every time we're in these conversations, it all leads back to Mike Flanagan. He has taken a storyline literally ripped from the headlines, applied it to a story we all know, and within that has created all these very separate individual points of views that are valid in their own right, and make a very complex tapestry of storytelling.

O-C: Although there are some pretty mean kids at this school, it’s genius how he has made this version of Carrie as if it were happening today.

ML: Exactly and the point is that Mike has painted this incredible opportunity for all of us to bring our point of view as a character and have it resonate. The one thing that at its core is just truly evil is social media and the development of the wicked side of these kids.

O-C: We have to talk about Summer H. Howell, our Canadian gal who plays Carrie. She was absolutely riveting and I know this girl is going to be a huge star after people see her in this series. Even knowing what's coming and what Carrie is capable of, I was still on Team Carrie the entire season.

SS: She’s definitely one of a kind. We had a rehearsal process for this show, which is unheard of. The day she walked in, I felt such energy from her. She may be young, but she is highly skilled and she walked in with such a completed, real character with Carrie. You watch it, and you're like, ‘Oh my God, yes, this is exactly who she is.’ She helped me make sense of Margaret and what their relationship was about.

ML: It's funny you say that, because I don't think when people watch the show, they're going to focus on other renditions of Carrie. We have these remarkable young performances from all the kids in high school, all of these young men and women are freaking brilliant. The funny thing is — and it really just occurred to me — there was never a moment when she didn't feel like the number one on the call sheet. There was never a moment when she was untethered or lost.

O-C: I absolutely was captivated by this entire series.

ML: It's so nice to be able to speak about it. We've been living with it for eight months, but we think we made something incredible.