Mike Flanagan’s Carrie Series Receives High Praise From Matthew Lillard

“Carrie” is Stephen King’s oldest published novel, and its 1976 film adaptation (directed by Brian De Palma) is one of the most celebrated and iconic pieces of horror media, featuring the burgeoning talents of Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, and John Travolta. Mike Flanagan’s forthcoming miniseries boasts a similarly promising cast, including Heather Graham, Amber Midthunder, and Matthew Lillard, the last of whom is really promising the stars when it comes to the quality of this reimagining.

The “Carrie” Miniseries – An Overview

“Carrie” is slated to premiere in roughly a year’s time. Coincidentally or not, it will come out at least very close to the 50th anniversary of Brian De Palma’s adaptation. There’s no doubt that its broad storyline – concerning the titular high school girl whose abject victimization at the hands of her mother and classmates threatens to push her telekinetic powers to a deadly tipping point – will be very familiar to anyone who’s merely seen that film, but this miniseries (directed by a veteran of Stephen King adaptations) should also be a treat for those who treasure the source material above all else.

“Carrie” will star Matthew Lillard (who is most famous for playing Stu Macher in “Scream” and will reprise this role in “Scream 7“) as Henry Grayle, the principal of the high school at which most of the series’s events will take place. Though Henry Grayle is the principal’s name in the novel, this will be the first “Carrie” adaptation in which his name is not Peter Morton (who is merely the assistant principal in the book). Similarly, the book’s concerned gym teacher Ms. Desjardin is given the much more common surname of Collins (Betty Buckley); in the miniseries, she will likewise be named Ms. Desjardin (Amber Midthunder) once more.

Fans of the novel may be assured that such window dressing is far from the extent of the upcoming series’s book-loyalty. In a November 24 interview with GamesRadar+, Lillard described the “Carrie” miniseries as “really a pure adaptation of the book… The De Palma film is really about sort of one aspect, but there’s a lot that happens in the book that’s been introduced to the show.” This is just one reason, he says, why “Carrie” fans everywhere should be very, very excited for this adaptation.

Lillard on “Carrie” Series – “It’s really fantastic”

Indeed, Lillard’s acclamation of the project verges on the hyperbolic. His praise for Mike Flanagan (with whom he previously collaborated this year on “The Life of Chuck“) alone comes close to placing the director on a superhuman plane: “He is just the single greatest force of nature in the industry. We rehearsed for three weeks. He had plotted out every shot in the entire film. He had it down to the minute in terms of he [sic] amount of time it would take to shoot. He developed an app so you could see where they were in shooting. I mean, he’s so prolific and profound and such a great storyteller. So that’s the first thing.”

Modesty may have enjoined Lillard from sounding his own horn, but he was as outspoken about his fellow actors as anything else: “The second thing is the cast is incredible… The teachers and the parents are kind of the varsity level of actors, you know, old. It’s just a way of calling the old actors. And then… the kids are freaking brilliant. They’re brilliant actors. I would watch them work, and I was blown away at their ability to be honest and truthful.”

Conclusion

Such is Flanagan’s work ethic, Lillard explained, that “we [the cast] saw the first three episodes cut before we even left Vancouver [where the miniseries was filmed], Mike had already finished and picture-locked the first three episodes, which was remarkable.. It’s really fantastic.” Ultimately, Lillard had only one con to bring up in regard to “Carrie”: the fact that “you have to wait a year to see it.”