Matthew Lillard has a message for queer fans watching Carrie, and it comes straight from the heart. Speaking with Gayety alongside co-star Amber Midthunder, the actor reflected on raising queer kids, growing up feeling like an outsider and why this story might mean something special to viewers who know that feeling.
“Don’t make me emotional,” Lillard said when we asked him for a message of love and hope for the community.
We weren’t trying to make him cry, but we understand. There is something about Carrie White’s story that hits a little differently when you’ve spent parts of your life being singled out for who you are.
Mike Flanagan’s new series adapts Stephen King’s story of a teenage girl whose sheltered life, difficult relationship with her mother and cruel treatment at school collide with her emerging supernatural abilities. Summer H. Howell plays Carrie, with Samantha Sloyan as her mother, Margaret. The cast also includes Midthunder, Lillard, Josie Totah, Alison Thornton, Joel Oulette and Arthur Conti.
And yes, we had the same question you probably do: Do we really need another Carrie?
After watching, we’re happy to report that this retelling is a surprisingly enjoyable addition to your spooky October watch list. It gives the familiar story room to breathe, bringing us closer to the people behind the terror while still delivering the kind of horror we came for. Howell and Sloyan are especially compelling, and the series finds plenty to explore before that prom everyone knows is coming.
Matthew Lillard Gets It
For Lillard, the connection between Carrie and queer audiences is personal. He knows what it feels like to be outside the popular crowd, and as a parent to a queer kid, he hopes viewers find something of themselves in the series.
“And I do think having queer kids and being a kid that grew up in drama, feeling like I was never cool or never part of that it club, I feel like people will sit in front of this TV show and they will feel seen,” he said.
That is part of what has always made horror such a meaningful space for queer audiences. Beneath the supernatural scares are stories about being misunderstood, feeling unsafe and trying to find your place in a world that isn’t always welcoming. Carrie’s experiences may be extreme, but the loneliness is recognizable.
Lillard sees strength in that connection, too.
“It’s a story of a kid rising up out of the ashes to find their own superpower,” he said.
Of course, he and Midthunder also brought plenty of humor to our conversation. Lillard jokingly declared his principal the moral compass of the entire show, while Midthunder was a little less convinced he had done everything he could for Carrie. We love a supportive colleague who will also keep you humble.
Their affection for the project was clear, especially when they described working with Flanagan and watching the massive prom set come together. Lillard called the experience one of the most rewarding of his career, which is saying something coming from someone who has spent decades giving horror fans memorable performances.
Josie Totah on Finding Your Superpower
Totah also understands why queer viewers might find a connection to Carrie. Speaking with Gayety alongside Thornton, she pointed to the idea of “your biggest flaw being your actual superpower, which I think is very inherently queer.”
It’s a lovely way of looking at a story so often remembered for its most horrifying moments. Something that makes you feel different, or that other people have taught you to see as a flaw, can become a source of strength.
Totah also highlighted the series’ exploration of identity, validation and female friendship. With more time to spend with these characters, those relationships become an important part of understanding what they want from one another and why being accepted matters so much.
Thornton, whose character Chris directs her cruelty toward Carrie, hopes audiences leave with a little more compassion.
“I think Carrie represents so many people, anyone who’s ever felt othered or they didn’t quite fit in,” she said.
Even the characters making terrible choices get more depth here. Thornton said Flanagan encouraged the cast to approach them as people rather than monsters, allowing her to explore the vulnerability and confusion beneath Chris’ aggression.
It doesn’t make her behavior any less painful to watch, but it gives the story more to work with than a straightforward good-kid, bad-kid divide.
A Different Kind of Carrie
Flanagan wasn’t immediately sold on revisiting the story, either. His first reaction was to question why he should remake something that had already been done so beautifully.
“The answer we came up with was don’t remake Carrie,” he told Gayety. “Kind of use all the pieces to make something new out of it.”
That approach begins with Carrie herself. Howell’s version is curious, earnest and excited to experience the world, making the way she is treated all the more heartbreaking. The series also takes a different approach to Margaret, exploring a mother whose love for her daughter is tangled up in her inability to protect her properly.
Queer experiences helped inform the adaptation from the beginning. Flanagan’s sibling, trans writer Jamie Flanagan, brought their high school experiences into the writers’ room. Although they attended the same school, Mike explained that their experiences were very different, something he came to understand more clearly as an adult.
“I think horror lends itself so beautifully to the queer experience,” he said.
For a series about someone navigating a world that can feel threatening simply because she is different, that perspective matters. It also helps explain why the cast kept returning to the same hope: that people watching might feel understood.
There are still plenty of reasons to turn down the lights and settle in for a spooky watch. But what makes this Carrie worth your time is how much it cares about the girl at the center of it, and the viewers who might recognize a little of themselves in her.
Watch more of our interviews with the cast below. Carrie is streaming now on Prime Video.