Prime Video’s Carrie reboot hinges on one major change that only Samantha Sloyan could pull off

Samantha Sloyan has played various roles across the Mike Flanagan horror universe, both empathetic and extremely hateable. Her scheming, self-righteous Bev Keane was the standout performance of Midnight Mass. In Midnight Club, she played a witchy herbalist with a dark secret. And she was a calming presence as Leigh Crain in his breakout Netflix hit, The Haunting of Hill House.

But in Flanagan's latest, a modern reimagining of the Stephen King classic, Carrie, Sloyan rolls those various elements up into perhaps her greatest role yet: Margaret White (aka Carrie's mom).

Sloyan's version of Margaret is far more complex and nuanced than the one depicted by Piper Laurie in Brian De Palma's 1976 film, or even the version in King's original novella. Flanagan tears the story of Carrie down to its studs and builds something new, with Margaret playing a more important role than ever before, though she's still a tragic figure, at best.

"I think she fails her daughter in a lot of ways," Sloyan tells Polygon. "She's loving her in the wrong way."

Polygon connected with Samantha Sloyan over Zoom to discuss playing Maragret White in Carrie, how she approaches playing complex villains, and what it's like being part of Mike Flanagan's troupe of recurring actors. Flanagan himself also weighed in to praise Sloyan.

The Carrie showrunner puts it bluntly: "She's honestly one of the best actors I've ever met."

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