Carrie's Samantha Sloyan Talks Premiere's Complex Mother/Daughter Dynamic: 'I Didn't Want To Lose That Margaret Was Dangerous For Carrie'

Spoilers ahead for the series premiere of Prime Video's "Carrie"!

From the first few moments of Mike Flanagan's "Carrie," life in Chamberlain, Maine has been seriously disturbed. Sue Snell is being interviewed by a mysterious someone, as she recalls the fires that have already taken out her school and half the town. "We were kids just trying to do our best," she says. If only.

The premiere of Prime Video's adaptation (all eight episodes are now available to stream) makes another big change from the jump as we see Ralph White heading into his job at a construction site. Today's the day he will die in that on-site accident that will leave Margaret White (Samantha Sloyan) and her teenage daughter Carrie (Summer H. Howell) alone and vulnerable to the world. After Ralph's death, authorities storm the White house to find mother and daughter hiding in a closet. Hiding from their intruders. Hiding from everyone. And it's here where Carrie's tragic story begins.

The social worker assigned to their case calls the White family "a cult of three." They have no phones, no news, no internet. Carrie was "so stunningly uninformed, which made it all the more remarkable that she was as open as she was, this curious," the woman tells the mystery interviewer. 

Margaret is also perceived as a victim here. She hasn't left the house, herself, in years. But according to the law, with Ralph dead and gone, Mom has to get a job and Carrie has to go to school. And thus, this updated tale begins. 

Just like in Brian De Palma's 1976 film, Carrie and her mom, Margaret, share a strange existence. But here, neither character is ready for what lies outside their front door, setting them up for conflict beyond anything they could possibly imagine. But even the relationship between them is vastly different from other "Carrie" iterations we've seen. Even Margaret is imbued with a softer sense of humanity that was not as present in Piper Laurie's Oscar-nominated performance. These stark differences are all aspects envisioned and executed by showrunner, writer, and director Mike Flanagan. 

"Mike really wrote that for her," Samantha Sloyan tells TVLine. "That's part of how he envisioned this 'Carrie' being different. He wanted them to start from a loving mother and daughter relationship. He set me up for that change. I think it makes her betrayal of her daughter and the times where she isn't available to her so much more heartbreaking because she expected her mother to be there, and then in those moments, she drops out."

"I felt like Mike really freed me up to be more open to pulling in parts of [Laurie's] performance," she adds. "She's so terrifying and I didn't want to lose that. I didn't want to lose that Margaret was dangerous for Carrie and that she was a threat for Carrie. So it was just making sure that we were still allowed those moments to exist instead of just always being about the love."

For Summer H. Howell, embodying this new version of Carrie was an exciting prospect, thanks to the modern spin Flanagan gave her. 

"I felt connected with her from the start because she is just so excited to get out into the world and to meet people and do things," Howell says. "She's been in her house her whole life, and so to bring that new energy into this version of 'Carrie' was really exciting for me. Her curiosity, her openness, until everything goes wrong. I wanted her to be grateful and open."

Although Carrie enjoys typing on computers, reading, and learning, her first day at school is upended by an active shooter drill that she doesn't understand is just a drill. The ordeal leaves the poor girl terrified, and that fear triggers her telekinetic powers as a flat-screen TV falls off the wall. Her teacher, Mr. Peist, thinks that an earthquake hit. (Not quite, sir!) 

Margaret stomps her way into Principal Henry Grayle's office to take him to task for traumatizing her daughter. Next time there's a drill, Carrie will not be attending school that day, thankyouverymuch. But while Margaret is busy ruining Grayle's day, Carrie gets her first period in the locker room during gym class. And the sad part is: She thinks she's actually dying because her mother never explained this aspect of life to her. 

As Carrie absolutely loses it, a young woman elsewhere feels Carrie's pain. The empath's hands are even stained with blood. We then flash-forward again to Sue's interview. "Everybody asks about Carrie, but nobody asks about the other people who were there," Sue says. "The strangers who were there. The people I've never seen before in my life... Nobody is asking the right questions. Because it wasn't just Carrie. That's the thing."

"It wasn't. Just. Carrie."  

What did you think of the premiere of "Carrie"? Grade the episode, then comment away below!