Mike Flanagan is a modern day horror maestro who can craft both original tales and tackle reboots with ease. We are big fans of his work here at Nerdist, from Midnight Mass to The Fall of the House of Usher, so we were very intrigued at the idea of him taking on a Carrie TV series. He’s successfully adapted Stephen King’s work before, and he has done it again with this Prime Video show. We spoke to Flanagan about his major changes to Carrie and Margaret White’s story, the iconic prom scene, and sliding Battlestar Galactica into the series.
Nerdist: After watching the entire Carrie series, one of the most interesting aspects is the characterization of Margaret White. She feels so much more emotionally complex and less like a pointed villain in the series. How did you go about shaping her persona and building the relationship that she would have with Carrie, which is also quite different?
Mike Flanagan: We were talking a lot about how there’s really no point in remaking Carrie. It’s been done so iconically that we were trying very actively to go into this from a very different perspective on all of the characters, on Carrie, on Margaret, on Chris. Margaret was particularly fascinating because that was kind of my way into the story. My son was about to start high school. I have a lot of anxiety about that and about the world he’s going into and wanting to keep him safe.
And so this idea of like, well, Margaret’s always been this abuser because she hates and fears her daughter in every version of Carrie. What if Margaret loves her daughter and doesn’t know how to do that right and doesn’t know how to keep her safe? We don’t have to agree with her choices. But what if we understand where she’s coming from? And that was something I related to a lot with my fears of being a parent. So that was our way in, and it really just opened up this world of possibilities for that character that I don’t think has ever been able to be explored before.
And then when you put an actor like Samantha Sloyan at the wheel of that character, I think it’s the performance of her career. So yeah, it’s a very different way in, but I was kind of shocked at how frequently I’d agree with what Margaret had to say in certain cases, way more than I ever would’ve guessed. Even at 20% of being like, “I think Margaret has a point.” That was a really wild place to stand. But yeah, I’m so pleased with how Sam rendered it, but I don’t think there are any monsters on our show. I think it’s a tragedy for that reason. It’s just people making choices and that was way more interesting to me.
I can certainly understand that fear as a parent myself. You want the best for your child but sometimes you don’t always do that right. And that’s just one of many great changes that I think the series makes to the story that we all know and love. It’s especially true with the prom sequence. I found it really interesting with Emaline and how she played into it and had that influence over Carrie, whereas in other versions Carrie was acting on her own accord. What went to your decision to make that shift from Carrie acting as a one person to having Emmeline come into the storyline in that way?
Flanagan: Well, we were always looking at this story as a tragedy more than a horror story. And one of the things that we talked about a lot was that in a lot of cases, tragedies have many authors and culpability isn’t simple. And for something like this, with the scale of destruction and the amount of death and the nuances that went into all of the characters in that room at that time, there was this opportunity to open it up beyond Carrie. And we had decided early on that we thought this version of the character deserved to survive the story.
We talked a lot about what she could live with. How could she go on with her life after the events of the prom? When we talked about this larger network of other powerful women that would come into play and come to bear on the story and on Carrie, it really opened up this fascinating question. What if it’s not just her at the prom? What if it’s much more complicated? Of course, there are always these horrible stories of one person who can bring down tragedy on their own, but there are so many stories of the kaleidoscope of people that contribute to it. And this felt like that story to us.
Yeah, it absolutely did. At Nerdist, we celebrate all things that are considered to be geeky and nerdy, whether it’s TV, film, comics, or horror. So Mike, what do you nerd out about and why?
Flanagan: Oh my God. Okay. I mean, I nerd out everything. I’m a quintessential nerd. Right now, my big things are movie props. I’m a major movie prop nerd. Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica. You can see me trying to stage an informal Battlestar Galactica reunion in episode seven of Carrie. We have six Battlestar cast members in the show and I’m trying to collect them all. But yeah, I’m a quintessential fanboy nerd to this day and a collector. And I was this close today to wearing my Peter Capaldi hoodie that he wore in his last season of Doctor Who for press and not telling anybody about it. I didn’t do it because I didn’t want to get coffee on it.
You totally could’ve worn it! I would have noted your closet cosplay and loved it.
Flanagan: Yes, the closet cosplay is kind of my thing. I’ve gotten away with it on set too. But yeah, right now my wife would tell you the movie props are becoming a big problem. But I regret nothing!
All eight episodes of Carrie are streaming on Prime Video.