Mike Flanagan’s Book-Accurate Stephen King Adaptation Hyped By Star

by

Matthew Lillard has hinted at exciting things to come from Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King‘s ‘Salem’s Lot,’ calling it a faithful and thrilling reimagining of the classic story. The series, which was announced last year, is slated for release on Prime Video in 2026, and will star Summer H. Howell as the main character from King’s 1974 novel.

In a recent conversation with GamesRadar+, Damian Lillard, who plays Principal Grayle, shared his enthusiasm for working with director Mike Flanagan. He’s enjoyed collaborating with Flanagan on both The Life of Chuck (coming in 2025) and the upcoming Carrie television series.

Carrie is incredibly talented. Mike Flanagan, who I collaborated with on ‘Life of Chuck,’ is a truly exceptional director. He’s meticulous and prepared; we rehearsed for three weeks, and he’d already planned every single shot, even timing exactly how long each one would take. He even created an app to track the shooting schedule. He’s just an amazingly productive, thoughtful, and gifted storyteller, and that’s what really stood out to me.

Stephen King’s first novel has been turned into a movie or show several times, with Brian De Palma’s 1976 film being the most famous. Sissy Spacek starred as Carrie White in that movie, which critics liked. While De Palma’s version wasn’t a direct copy of the book, Lillard says the new show will be much more faithful to the original story.

The acting is fantastic. This new adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie feels much more faithful to the book than the original movie. While the De Palma film focused on one particular part of the story, the series incorporates a lot more of the details and events from the novel.

Lillard also complimented his fellow cast members in the Carrie TV series, including Amber Midthunder, Alison Thornton, Thalia Dudek, Joel Oulette, Siena Agudong, Josie Toah, Arthur Conti, and familiar faces from Mike Flanagan’s other projects like Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, and Samantha Sloyan.

Lillard explains there are three main groups involved: teachers and parents, and the students themselves. He describes the teachers and parents as the experienced ones – like the ‘varsity’ players in a performance. But he’s especially impressed with the students, calling them ‘freaking brilliant’.

Lillard enjoyed working with his fellow actors and has now watched three of the eight episodes of the miniseries. He believes viewers will really enjoy the show when it’s released on Prime Video.

Lillard praised the actors as incredibly talented, saying he was deeply impressed by their authenticity. He also highlighted how quickly the show came together – the first three episodes were fully edited before the cast and crew left Vancouver. Overall, he believes the show is fantastic, but laments the long wait for its release due to its high quality.

As a huge fan of the original story, I’m really excited about this new adaptation of Stephen King’s first published novel! I know the story well – it’s about Carrie, a shy girl who has telekinetic powers, and how she’s tormented by the other kids and especially by her really controlling mom. I’ve heard Howell is going to play Carrie, and Sloyan will be her mother, Margaret. Thankfully, Midthunder is cast as Rita Desjardins, the one teacher who actually tries to help Carrie. It all leads up to that unforgettable, and incredibly dramatic, prom night, of course!

Okay, so the casting for this Carrie remake is really interesting! I’m excited to see Thornton as Chris Hargensen – she’s going to be a fantastic bully, I can already tell. Agudong is taking on the role of Sue Snell, and it’s smart casting – she’ll really capture Sue’s journey as someone who initially joins in the torment but then has a change of heart. And finally, Oulette is Tommy Ross, the nice guy who ends up being Carrie’s prom date. It’s a solid lineup so far, and I’m curious to see how they bring these classic characters to life.

Mike Flanagan’s work on Carrie is part of a larger agreement with Prime Video, where he’s planned to develop more projects in the future, potentially including the Dark Tower TV series. He’s also directing a new Exorcist film with Scarlett Johansson. As for Doug Lillard, he’ll appear in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, which comes out on December 5th.

Read More

2025-11-27 21:15