What Matthew Lillard has said about Carrie (2026 TV series)

Lillard says Summer H. Howell was chosen for the lead role after auditions of 1,400 candidates.

“the woman that plays Carrie, her name's Summer H. Howell, and she is, uh, they auditioned 1,400 girls”

Morbid: Carrie, Cult Classics & Chaos: A Sit Down with Matthew Lillard (Oct 5, 2026) · Listen from 10:16

Lillard argues Samantha Sloyan is among the best working actors and has been overlooked.

“this woman is literally one of the best actors working today, and has been for a long time, just nobody sees it”

Morbid: Carrie, Cult Classics & Chaos: A Sit Down with Matthew Lillard (Oct 5, 2026) · Listen from 12:31

Lillard says the cast unusually had every script in hand before production began.

“along comes the next script. When we signed up, we had all eight scripts”

Morbid: Carrie, Cult Classics & Chaos: A Sit Down with Matthew Lillard (Oct 5, 2026) · Listen from 15:12

Lillard recounts Flanagan's pitch to King that social media offered a new way to tell the story that the 1970s versions could not anticipate.

“And when you wrote this back in the 70s, and De Palma shot it in the 70s, nobody could know what the scourge of social media would be”

Morbid: Carrie, Cult Classics & Chaos: A Sit Down with Matthew Lillard (Oct 5, 2026) · Listen from 38:23