Matthew Lillard in talks to make people scream in Mike Flanagan's Carrie

Lillard will also appear in a different King adaptation from Flanagan, The Life Of Chuck, this June. The film (in which Lillard gets a memorable, hefty monologue) first premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival where it won the prestigious People’s Choice Award. Adapted from a 2020 short story of the same name, The Life Of Chuck is the rare King fable that doesn’t rely on spooks and scares. 

The same obviously cannot be said for Carrie, which has already terrified audiences with its tale of a bullied girl with telekinetic powers multiple times on the big screen. There have been four Carrie films in total, with Brian De Palma’s 1976 classic as the first (and undeniably still the best). A sequel followed in 1999, with a 2002 TV movie and 2013 remake released in the succeeding years. Carrie has previously been played by both Sissy Spacek (1976) and Chloë Grace Moretz (2013). With the new series, newcomer Summer H. Howell will join their ranks. Siena Agudong has also been cast as Carrie’s nemesis, Sue Snell.

This whole project came together “quite quickly,” Deadline reports, following the opening of Flanagan’s writers’ room last fall. It officially got the greenlight from Prime Video in April, just in time to pick out a dress for the dance. It’s good that Flanagan got his promposal in early, because Lillard is proving to be quite the popular guy these days. He’s also signed on to appear in Daredevil: Born Again season 2, Five Nights At Freddy’s 2, and Scream 7 in his franchise return. He just needs to avoid any mysterious, hanging buckets at the afterparties.