The Cast of ‘Carrie’ on the Bloody Truth About Bullying

Carrie is an absolute classic. There’s a reason why Stephen King’s story about holding on to kindness in an age of mean-spirited bullying has remained culturally relevant and evergreen. Part of it is how brilliantly horrifying it is as a story. The other part is unfortunately how even over 50 years later, it’s still relevant today (and will always be). Thankfully, Mike Flanagan’s adaptation contemporizes these themes in a way that’s not only faithful to King’s text, but also sensibly modernized for our current social climate.

We recently brought you our conversations with Flanagan and stars Summer H. Howell and Samantha Sloyan. However you simply cannot tell the story of Carietta White without a stellar cast to round up the show’s ensemble of antagonists, deuteragonists, and supporting characters. Chief among them are Amber Midthunder and Matthew Lillard, as Carrie’s teacher, Rita Desjardin and Principal Grayle; Alison Thornton and Josie Totah as mean girls, Chris Hargensen and Tina; and Joel Oulette and Arthur Conti as Tommy Ross and Billy Nolan.

While the focus of the series is, of course, on Carrie and Margaret White, Flanagan fleshes out each of these supporting characters, reinventing the critical supporting characters from the original story in ways that humanize them and deepen their motivations and choices, while introducing new characters that also become central to the story and themes being showcased. As the show is, at its core, about the terrifying effects on bullying on an individual trying desperately to hold on to any semblance of kindness she can for her sanity, getting to speak with Midthunder, Lillard, Thornton, Totah, Oulette, and Conti about kindness during a time of bullying over social media today, and how we can try to just do our best daily felt incredibly necessary.

Here’s what they had to say:

Carrie is now streaming on Prime Video! This is such a terrific series, and I encourage everyone to check it out, because it’s as emotional as it is addicting!

Don’t forget to check out our additional coverage of Carrie from our conversations with Flanagan, Howell, and Sloyan to our coverage of the show’s SDCC panel, only on The Nerds of Color!