Mike Flanagan Settles Debate on Carrie Season 1 Finale

Mike Flanagan‘s new Carrie show ends with prom. Ending Carrie in any other way would be wrong. However, the Prime Video series makes plenty of changes to the source material, and these lead to one ambiguous moment right at the height of the iconic prom scene. In a Zoom interview, Polygon asked Flanagan to clarify exactly what is happening in that sequence, and his answer reveals an idea at the heart of the entire show.

Spoilers ahead for the ending of Carrie season 1.

Who kills everyone at prom? Carrie or Emaline?

Early on in Carrie, viewers are introduced to Emaline, played by Thalia Dudek. Emaline is a high school loner who befriends Carrie, played by Summer Howell, and helps her hone her psychic abilities. It later becomes clear that nobody but Carrie can see Emaline, and viewers eventually learn that is because Emaline is using her own powers to astral project from far away. Despite not physically being at prom, Emaline still plays a major role.

After Carrie is crowned prom queen and then doused in pig’s blood as the crowd of students laugh and film it on their smartphones, she unleashes her terrifying powers on them. First, she explodes their phones with a psychic blast in response to the sea of cameras pointed at her. Then, she accidentally kills her prom date, Tommy Ross, played by Joel Oulette, while trying to attack the people responsible for the prank as they flee from the catwalk above.

At this point, Carrie seems to hesitate. Emaline then appears behind Carrie onstage and offers to take over. She seemingly gains control of Carrie’s body and unleashes bloody mayhem on the entire school, including students and faculty. Later, Carrie chases down her tormentor Chris Hargensen, played by Alison Thornton, and Chris’ boyfriend, Billy Nolan, played by Arthur Conti, and murders them. In that moment, Emaline is nowhere to be seen.

None of us believed the Carrie White we created would consciously choose to kill Principal Grayle.

The question remains about who really killed all those people, whether it was Carrie, Emaline, or both of them together.

Flanagan tells Polygon that it was important to him that Carrie White was solely responsible for certain deaths. He states that no one but Carrie White can be blamed for killing Tommy Ross, Billy Nolan, and Chris Hargensen. The production team was careful to make sure Emaline was far away while Carrie looked Chris in the eye and made the decision to crush her alive.

Those deaths are on Carrie, but the rest may be Emaline’s doing.

Flanagan explains that none of them believed the Carrie White they created would consciously choose to kill Principal Grayle, played by Matthew Lillard, choose to kill Ms. D, played by Amber Midthunder, and choose to ignite innocent people around her.

Tragedies have many authors

For Flanagan and the rest of the writers, exploring the thorny question of who is truly responsible for a terrible incident like this one was vital.

Flanagan states that tragedies have many authors, noting that the team tried to tell the story of the kaleidoscopic collection of people whose small decisions led to this moment.

We didn’t want Carrie to be a school shooter.

He also notes that while viewers might think the show is a metaphor for school shootings, a topic that comes up early in the show, that was never the goal of Carrie.

Flanagan explains that treating the story as a tragedy rather than a horror story highlighted the unintended consequences of cruelty. The team did not want Carrie to be a school shooter. They wanted her to be someone pushed to the brink who explodes in a way that is not necessarily controllable, but who is not callous to the lives of the people around her because that does not fit the character Summer Howell created.

He adds that this lack of callousness fits the character portrayed for all seven episodes leading up to that moment. The complexity of that culpability and the prismatic look at the tragedy provided an opportunity to present a prom scene that differed from previous adaptations.

Carrie is streaming now on Prime Video.

Source: Polygon