Mike Flanagan’s (The Haunting of Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher) take on Carrie was recently released in a bingeable format, which included an explosive and twist-filled eighth episode. Now, Margaret White actress Samantha Sloyan (Midnight Mass, The Pitt) is breaking her silence. In an interview with Deadline, Sloyan discussed the finale’s twist, where it was revealed that Margaret White is also telekinetic like her daughter Carrie.
In the original 1974 novel (and in previous adaptations of the novel), Margaret is a religious fanatic with no powers. Her reaction to Carrie’s abilities is to view them as demonic and unnatural. Flanagan, however, decided to depart from this depiction of Margaret.
Sloyan explained that the twist was about generational trauma, saying, “It does play into so much of parents wanting, trying so hard for their kids not to suffer the same things that they suffered, and in doing so, sometimes create a new trauma for that kid. And I think, what I loved about it also was it really helped to anchor how, maybe we don’t see it until episode 8, but it helps anchor, if you go back, all the decisions she made. She understands because she knows it’s real.”
Sloyan said her reaction to the twist was, “That’s awesome”, but also explained that it informed the reasoning for why Margaret would not let Carrie out of the house. “Carrie will not leave this house, because I know what the world does to monsters,” Sloyan explains about Margaret’s way of thinking.
Carrie is not the only Stephen King project Mike Flanagan is currently working on. Flanagan is set to adapt King’s The Dark Tower series, which he also referenced in Carrie‘s final episode. Carrie is currently available to watch on Amazon Prime Video, where all eight episodes are now streaming.