All eight episodes of Carrie arrive on Prime Video on October 7, and the loudest conversation around the series is about who plays the title role. Summer H. Howell leads Mike Flanagan’s reimagining of Stephen King’s debut novel, and her casting raises an old question: does Carrie need a lead who looks like the girl King wrote?
Four Carries, One Look
King wrote Carrie White as a 16-year-old ridiculed for being overweight, having bad acne, and failing to meet traditional beauty standards. Howell is 22.
Sissy Spacek played Carrie in 1976, Angela Bettis in 2002, and Chloë Grace Moretz in 2013, and all three were thin. One essayist calls that a failure to honor a detail central to the plot. I agree, because King built Carrie’s outcast status partly on how she looks.
Houston Press columnist Jjef Rouner argues studios avoid casting an overweight actress because Carrie must stay sympathetic despite her violence. That is opinion, not a reported production fact, but I find it the most convincing theory on the table. If studios believe audiences only sympathize with Carrie when she is conventionally attractive, they are repeating the prejudice the story exists to condemn.
So when Flanagan says looks are not the main reason Carrie is tormented this time, I want to know what takes their place.
Related: Prime Video’s Carrie: Complete Episode Guide, Release Schedule & Where to Watch
Flanagan Moves the Cruelty Somewhere Else
Flanagan told Teen Vogue that Carrie is tormented in this version because of her upbringing more than her physical appearance, and that her clothes reflect that upbringing. He has also said bullying has changed a great deal in the 50 years since the novel was written, so the series sets Carrie in the social media age around a viral bullying scandal.
I think that is a smart update and a convenient one. If looks no longer drive the bullying, the casting stops being a problem the show has to solve, and the critics’ complaint gets answered by changing the question.
Howell does not dodge it. She says she has read the negative comments, understands why some want a more book-accurate Carrie, and raised similar doubts with Flanagan early on. However, King has backed the series’ new angle.
“What it has to say about social media is shocking and true,” he wrote on Threads
The series opened with 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with all eight episodes dropping October 7 on Prime Video.
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