](/author/perri-nemiroff/)

Hannah Hunt

Perri Nemiroff

Published Jul 25, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

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Mike Flanagan’s upcoming adaptation of Carrie may be based on Stephen King’s iconic debut novel, but Matthew Lillard found inspiration for his character somewhere much closer to home. While the new Prime Video series remains rooted in King’s story, its cast has repeatedly emphasized that it also explores issues that feel especially relevant today.

During an interview for Carrie at San Diego Comic-Con conducted by Collider’s** Perri Nemiroff**, Lillard explained that he didn’t spend much time looking at the source material when developing his performance as the school’s principal. Instead, he drew from two decades of watching his own children navigate the modern education system, shaping a character caught in the middle of students, parents, and teachers trying to make it through an increasingly difficult environment. When asked how the series updates Carrie’s themes of bullying for the modern era, Lillard admitted that King’s novel wasn’t his primary guide when approaching Principal Grayle.

“I didn’t really rely on the source material that well. I reread the book, but it was in the middle of shooting. For me, it was really about trying to represent what teachers are suffering through right now in the education landscape that we’re living in.”

Your instincts, your strengths, and your particular way of thinking under pressure point to one villain you actually have a fighting chance against. Everyone else — good luck.

Jason is relentless, but he is also predictable — and that is the gap you would exploit.

Michael watches before he moves. He is patient, methodical, and almost impossible to detect — until it’s too late for anyone who isn’t paying close enough attention.

Freddy wins by getting inside your head — using your own fears, your own memories, your own subconscious as weapons against you. That strategy requires a target who can be destabilised.

Pennywise is ancient, shapeshifting, and feeds on terror — but it has one critical vulnerability: it cannot function against someone who genuinely stops being afraid of it.

Chucky’s greatest advantage is that nobody takes him seriously until it’s already too late. He exploits the gap between how something looks and what it actually is.

Lillard said becoming a parent changed the way he approached the role. Having watched his three children grow up in today’s school system, he wanted to portray a principal trying to support everyone involved rather than simply acting as another authority figure. “I think that in this moment, my job as the principal is to try to salve the landscape around, and that’s the parents and the teachers and the students. There’s this chaos, and I’m sitting in the middle of this storm and trying to make sure everyone wins.”

He went on to explain that Carrie’s central story of feeling like an outsider continues to resonate because so many people today identify with that experience. Rather than viewing the series as simply a horror story about bullying, Lillard sees it as a reflection of the isolation many people feel in modern life. Co-star Amber Midthunder echoed that perspective, describing her character as someone caught between the students’ experiences and the institution she works within. She explained that Miss Desjardin wants young people to feel understood while also wrestling with the limitations of the system around her.

“I think my character’s in a position where she’s sort of the bridge of the gap between the experience of the students and wanting to really understand what they’re actually going through… and then sort of have to be a part of this institution that you don’t necessarily always agree with.”

Midthunder added that even though she isn’t far removed from her own school years, she already finds herself struggling to understand what younger generations are experiencing online and in classrooms today. For her, that rapid pace of change is one of the reasons Flanagan’s new adaptation feels so timely.

Check back with Collider for more San Diego Comic-Con news throughout the weekend.

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