Mike Flanagan's Carrie Series May Have Found Its Titular Teen And Her Mom Margaret White, And I Would Go In A Closet And Pray For This To Be Real

Legendary director Brian de Palma burst open an entertainment dam back in 1976 when he served up Hollywood's very first Stephen King adaptation, Carrie. Myriad other King-influenced movies followed, including a misguided sequel and the less effective 2013 remake with Chloë Grace Moretz. And yet somehow, nothing else has fully eclipsed that first feature about a tormented daughter and student. But Mike Flanagan could be the genius who changes that.

Flanagan revealed back in October 2024 that he would be heading back to Ewen High School (or Bates HS in de Palma’s film) for Carrie’s first episodic TV adaptation, all while he’s also currently working on a Dark Tower series at the same time as a new Exorcist movie, and more beyond that. It’s a dream situation for horror fans like myself who have adored the filmmaker’s past takes on King’s works (as well as other authors), and a new casting report has only boosted my excitement.

Carrie White Casting Rumor: Milly Shapiro

Sissy Spacek was inarguably great within the role of Carrie White, and the character's out-of-her-depth misery is forever embedded on the actress' face throughout her performance. So in some ways, it seems anti-intuitive to try and recast the role, since it's so hard to top. But in other ways, Spacek's casting was in direct opposition with King's descriptions of Carrie, from her overweight nature to her appearance of being a "frog among swans."

And when I offered up my own ideas for who could play Carrie, I was so focused on finding alums from Mike Flanagan's past projects that I didn't stray too far from the norm with my choices. But when it comes to a unique and atypical look that stands out in Hollywood, Hereditary's young standout star Milly Shapiro fits the bill, and brings lots of talent to the table to boot. So I can only hope that the report shared by Daniel Richtman is totally legit.

It can obviously be difficult and rude-seeming to declare one actress perfect for a role that another was deemed "too pretty" for, but this isn't a case of who's beautiful and who isn't. For one, everybody's beautiful. And two, as said, it's about honoring the character description that Stephen King first put to the page in 1974.

Plus, this would arguably be Shapiro's biggest role to date. A Tony winner for her work in 2013's Matilda, the actress has only joined one other feature film beyond Hereditary, the upcoming 2025 movie The Hallowarrior. On the TV side of things, she's only been in two live-action projects, Splitting Up Together and last year's satanic panic horror comedy Hysteria!. Plus, she's voiced a few characters for JJ Willard's Fairy Tales and served as a guest judge for The Boulet Brothers' Dragula.

Margaret White Casting Rumor: Samantha Sloyan

Meanwhile, on the flip side of the tormentor/tormented coin, we have the antagonistic mother Margaret, who was brought to life with unnerving results in Brian de Palma's film by the iconic Piper Laurie, who has seemingly been just as impossible to replace within that role as Spacek was to hers. Laurie is a firestorm of God-fearing psychobabble, and her non aggressive aesthetic makes her callousness all the more effective.

This is another instance where I would volunteer for a lot of questionable duties if it meant the rumors are true that The Fall of the House of Usher and Midnight Mass co-star Samantha Sloyan is being eyed to take on the role of Margaret White. Because wowzers.

Best known earlier in her career for roles in Shondaverse shows Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, but she later became a beloved and dependable piece of Mike Flanagan's regualrly utilized ensemble of actors with roles even beyond those mentioned above, in Hush, The Haunting of Hill House, The Midnight Club, and the upcoming Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck. So I was already expecting to see Sloyan show up in Carrie in one capacity or another, but can think of no better role for her than an overbearing, Old Testament force of nature like Margaret.

Although part of the reason why I think Sloyan would slay that role is that she played a somewhat similar woman of extreme faith and hardened morals in Midnight Mass. Bev Keane could get under one's skin like no other in that show, even the monstrous threats, so this is the rare case where I think it would not only be acceptable, but downright preferable, for the actress to tap back into that role's mindset to play one of cinema's most villainous mothers.

As it goes with all rumors, there's obviously the chance that neither of these casting choices will end up in the final project, with less effective alternates added instead. And if that's the case, then I definitely know what to do with all this pig blood I've been collecting for a non-connective reason.