In Prime Video's Carrie, misfit high‑schooler Carrie White (Summer H. Howell) has spent her life hidden away inside the walls of her home with her fiercely protective mother, Margaret (Samantha Sloyan).
After her father’s sudden, untimely death thrusts her into the unforgiving ecosystem of public high school, Carrie is forced to navigate a viral bullying scandal that tears through her community, the relentless pressure and casual cruelty of the social‑media age, and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that rise alongside her adolescence.
At the heart of Carrie is its compelling, sometimes twisted, mother-daughter relationship. Sloyan's Margaret is a more layered character than the religious fanatic audiences may be familiar with from previous versions, while Howell brings a vulnerability and emotional intelligence to Carrie that gives their dynamic plenty of unexpected depth.
In our exclusive interview with the show's leads, Howell and Sloyan discuss the lessons they've learned from each other, building their on-screen chemistry, the challenges of bringing Carrie's powers to life, and the surprisingly sticky reality of filming the blood-soaked prom.
Sloyan also explains why she believes Margaret genuinely loves her daughter and sees herself as a good mother, despite the increasingly damaging ways she expresses that love.
Check out our interview with Howell and Sloyan in the player below.
You both have so much chemistry on screen. I’d love to know what you’ve both learned from each other while working so closely together on Carrie.
Summer: I mean, I’ve said it so many times now, but I will continue to say it because it’s so true. Sam teaches me—and just people—how to be when you’re in a room with her. She doesn’t directly tell you things. You just observe her and you learn how to, you know, hold yourself. She’s so talented and working alongside her, getting to look her in the eyes while acting, is an honour. Yeah, trying to stay present so I’m not just watching her the whole time. I’ve learned a lot.
Samantha: And my thing is exactly that for Summer. And then also just watching somebody—of all actresses, nothing to do with, like, young actresses—of everybody I’ve worked with and acted with, just her… the completion of what she’s created with this character. I think it’s just something of like you really understand what it is to know a character, watching Summer work. And it just reminds you there’s always… It’s a goal for me now. Like I should know everything I do as well as Summer knew Carrie.
Summer, I imagine one of the biggest challenges coming onto a series like this is obviously Carrie’s powers, and working with VFX and practical effects. What’s that been like for you to have those experiences coming onto the show?
Summer: Yeah, really interesting. For the most part, we try to do practical effects, which sometimes do not work. But when they do, it’s incredible, and it’s worth it. So it was definitely interesting seeing how that can sometimes slow down the set. Tensions rise, especially when you’re filming prom for two weeks all in one building that you’re lighting fires in, and you’re going home with, like, black in your nose most days and showing up to do it all again. But yeah, I had a great time. There’s a fun part of the prom—spoiler—where I float. I don’t know what I could say, but that was really fun. I got to be in a harness for the first time, I think. Yeah, like actually filming. Yeah, it was really cool.
I’m guessing you must have a lot of feelings about fake blood after working on this show as well.
Summer: Yeah. Yeah. [Laughs] It was sticky. That’s mainly what people ask me, like, what was it like? It was sticky. I couldn’t really touch anything. I did a lot of sitting with my fingertips on my knees because I was covered, you know, to my fingertips. It was a lot of relying on other people and learning that there are so many different types of blood. I would stand in the blood tent—the Dexter tent they like to call it—and I would stand for like 40 minutes as they applied it each day to make it look the same. And there’s like eye blood, so I’d have goggles on to make sure the other blood didn’t get in my eyes, which really stung when it did. Yeah… you got four minutes. [laughter]
Samantha, I feel like there are so many more layers to this version of Margaret than the religious fanatic we see in the book. So how did that change your approach to her? And, you know, when all is said and done, do you think she really is trying to be a good mother to Carrie?
Samantha: I do. And I mean that’s also the gift of having eight episodes to delve into everything and also Mike having changed so fundamentally the root of their relationship. But I do. I really do. I believe that Margaret loves her daughter more than anything. And although the way that she expresses that can get warped and mutated as our thing goes along, I do think that’s always at the core of what she’s trying to do.
In terms of working together on the mother-daughter dynamic—what was that like for you? And did it evolve during the course of the series, would you say?
Summer: It was the best.
Samantha: Yeah, it was. And it’s an interesting question. Nobody’s asked us that—if it evolved. And it did. Like I think we started really solid, but as you work with somebody, it just deepens and you find new things, which, you know, it just made work continually enjoyable and exciting.
Summer: Yeah. We built a friendship.
Carrie premieres worldwide on October 7 on Prime Video.