‘Carrie’: Mike Flanagan Series Sets Main Cast!!

The friends and foes (but mostly foes) of Mike Flanagan’s Prime Video adaptation of Carrie have finally been cast, and the call sheet features a slew of familiar names. We already knew that Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck actor and Scream King favorite Matthew Lillard (Scream, Five Nights at Freddy’s) was in talks to join the production, and today that news has been made official, with the actor solidifying his role as Principal Grayle. Joining Lillard and Summer Howell (Curse of Chucky), the latter of whom was previously revealed to appear in the titular role, will be Flanagan’s frequent collaborator, Samantha Sloyan (The Fall of the House of Usher), as Carrie’s mom, Margaret White — talk about an incredible casting!

In addition, the series will also feature the likes of Alison Thornton (Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce) as Chris Hargensen, Amber Midthunder (Prey) as Miss Desjardin, Josie Totah (The Buccaneers) as Tina, Thalia Dudek (The Running Man) as Emaline, Siena Agudong (Sidelined: The QB and Me) as Sue Snell, Arthur Conti (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) as Billy, and Joel Oulette (Sullivan’s Crossing) as Tommy.

Flanagan is far from the first filmmaker to turn King’s beloved breakthrough novel into an on-screen production. Previous iterations include Brian De Palma’s critically-acclaimed classic, 1976’s Carrie, and the 2013 Chloë Grace Moretz remake of the same name. Breaking the tale down into episodic installments will give Flanagan and his creative team more time to dig into the overall story and themes in what’s being billed as a reimagining of the original book. For a refresher, King’s novel follows its titular teenager who is constantly bullied at school and at home by a helicopter mother following the passing of her father. After discovering that she has telekinetic powers, Carrie makes everyone wish they’d have been a lot kinder to her.

‘Carrie’s Knock-Out Casting

Fans of Flanagan’s so-dubbed “Flanafam” will undoubtedly recognize Sloyan for her roles in just about every project to hail from the director. She’s appeared in big-screen projects like Hush and the upcoming The Life of Chuck, as well as The Haunting of Hill House, The Midnight Club, and The Fall of the House of Usher. But it’s her role as a Bible-thumping believer in Flanagan’s Netflix series, Midnight Mass, that gives us incredibly high hopes for Sloyan’s portrayal of Carrie’s religious fanatic mother. Throughout the miniseries, audiences grew to harbor incredibly ill will towards Sloyan’s character, but she was also able to demonstrate enough humanity to elicit empathy, which is what makes her casting in Carrie so terrific.