Note: This story contains spoilers from “Carrie.”
By the time the credits roll on Prime Video’s “Carrie” adaptation, bloody prom and all, it should be clear to the naysayers why the story was worth being told again for the digital era.
When the show was first announced, plenty took to the Internet wondering why Mike Flanagan would want to adapt Stephen King’s first novel into an 8-episode series when there had already been two theatrical adaptations and a TV movie in the past. For Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan — who play leads Carrie and Margaret White — the hook came from Flanagan’s approach to the mother-daughter relationship compared to what had come before.
“Mike, from the start, had written them to have love between each other,” Howell told TheWrap. “At the end of the day, that’s where all their emotion comes from – loving each other and being confused why they don’t think the same or the conflicts that arise with Carrie in school, and how Margaret feels about all that.”
Sloyan added that the pair had three weeks of rehearsal to build the relationship between the reclusive mother and daughter, something that is pretty rare. In doing that, they were able to solidify their new takes.
“I, for one, felt once I had seen the Carrie that Summer had created — I mean, it’s incredible — and it really made any questions I had about Margaret make sense to me,” Sloyan said. “The desire to protect, the love, like all of that, really fell into place.”
By the time the finale rolls around, and the show unveils its version on the iconic prom moment, there are plenty of questions raised. Throughout the season, Carrie had befriended a mysterious girl named Emaline (Thalia Dudek), who helped her embrace her telekinetic abilities — and eventually revealed she had her own powers. As things went from bad to worse, Carrie took a backseat to Emaline during a portion of the prom massacre, but Howell does not think that absolved the character of what happened.
“I like to think that Carrie is still seeing it and experiencing it,” Howell said. “She’s so heartbroken that these people, who she thought were finally rooting for her and being kind and doing a nice thing, have just pulled their phones out and they’re recording once again. It’s just kind of back to square one. So letting Emaline take over — they have a rocky relationship in the middle, and so leading up to that, she doesn’t even fully trust Emaline — it’s just like this desperate need to not be in that moment, and so she lets Emaline take over. But I do think she experiences it, and by the time we get to the car, Emaline’s out and she takes part.”
But one of the lingering questions as the season closes out, and Carrie rides into sunset and a hopeful feeling of freedom, is whether Emaline can really be trusted or if she was just the latest person trying to push their beliefs on Carrie — calling someone a God after all is rarely the sign of someone with good intentions. Howell thought it was a bit of Column A, a touch of Column B.
“I think, in ways, Emaline helped Carrie a lot,” she said. “Helped her train and learn how powerful she is and what she can do with her powers. I don’t necessarily think Emaline always points her down the right path. If we go further, I’m sure a lot of questions will be answered about this character and their backstory. You’ll see why they are the way they are.”
The real climax of the season doesn’t happen at prom though, but back at the White house. After seeing what her daughter is truly capable of, and worried about the kind of people that will come after her and power, Margaret made the choice to kill her daughter. Unlike in previous adaptations, where the mother is terrified of the daughter, Sloyan saw this as an final (failed) act of love and mercy to keep her safe.
“When Carrie comes home and she’s saying, ‘I’ve killed them,’ and I’ve seen the explosions and I’ve heard the sirens — I just don’t believe that the world will let her get a get away from this,” Sloyan said. “I feel like she’s trying to protect her in the last way that she knows how. Of course, I do not agree but I do think that that is what she’s doing.”
In the end, Margaret failed to give her daughter a merciful death and in a twist change from the book also doesn’t die in Carrie’s anger bringing down their house. Turns out Margaret had a bit of the Shine herself which protected her, and with her daughter on the run she was all the more ready to go out and find her – which is why Kate Siegel’s mysterious character is forced to end the season stopping Margaret’s heart.
“She realizes now that she can’t kill her, so then it’s just she’s going to protect her,” Sloyan said. “She just needs to figure out how to do it. I think that’s honestly her undoing because the other character who’s with Margaret realizes that she’s not going to stop at anything, so they have to stop her.”
“Carrie” is now streaming on Prime Video.
