What was it like auditioning? How much did you know about the previous, you know, models of, of Stephen King's, um, portrayals of Carrie, and now this new generation of the show?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Well, okay.

Well, mine was long.

My audition process, I sent in a self-tape in like January 2025, had to wait like a month or something.

Another one came out, so I did more scenes, and then again I did...

Wow.

At what point did you stop seeing her as a girl discovering the world and start seeing her as a girl discovering she had a say in what her world could be?

It's interesting.

I don't think she ever stops discovering the world.

I think she's still got a lot of time to do that.

But she definitely starts realizing her power in episode five, I'd say.

The junkyard scene is a huge turning point when it comes to her confidence in her powers, although she still feels terrible about using them and liking it.

That's its own little journey.

She's got it.

I really could've been your friend.

The moment before the blood drops is like, ah, make sure your eyes are open at the right time.

Make sure you don't breathe funny or, like, anything to mess up the shot.

And then when you'd stand up, it would be like [slurps].

Yes.

[laughs]

Yeah.

It's incredible.

I feel like I've worked really hard to make it to this point, so it felt like this role was a natural next step in a way.

It's a big deal.

It's crazy.

... and having her be reintroduced?

I mean, I think it's fun because it is a series.

Like, it's not just another movie where it's an adaptation.

When the first time that you were in a scene together where she was just terrible to you, and it cut, what happened between the two of you? What was the interaction?

laughter.

It's like, nice, one down.

Yeah, we did that.

Yeah.

No, it's always, it's good energy between takes and we're not method.

We try to like keep it light between all the setups and yeah, no, it felt easy.

Oh,

Mm

... and, and how they talked to me or treated me.

Um, I, I felt out of place often, which I think a lot of people do growing up.

Um, I found myself maybe being meaner in times when I was just trying to fit in because I didn't know who I wanted to be yet or, or the people I wanted to surround myself with.

Jump between friend groups, like a lot of people do.

Like, knowing that you're gonna get to this part, knowing that people are gonna see this, people that have a memory of those images from, you know, previous adaptations, what did it feel like when you put the dress on and the shower was going on and you were, you knew you were gonna film this scene?

I mean, I knew what I signed up for, but I didn't until I was in the moment and I was on that stage in the room with hundreds of people, however many there were.

Um, it's a crazy thing.

[laughs]

... 'cause I know everybody asked why and, you know, I did too.

Um, but when I saw the writing and, and where Mike was taking this, I was fully on board, uh, ready for the challenges that came with it, and I had the most incredible time doing it.

It's been life-changing.

[laughs]

... back before I was born, you could go home and hopefully you'd have, like, a safe home where you could, you know, turn everything off and focus on yourself, but nowadays kids don't really have that.

We're not really taught to do that, and so it's our job to put the phone down and understand when it's too much, but when you're programmed to be addicted to it all, it's, it's a tough thing, and so I was excited-

Yeah

... on set.

And really, like, early on, you know, we had, like, a month of rehearsals before we started filming and, and he also sat down and, like, gave this sort of really beautiful talk with, like, the room of actors.

And he sort of, like, made us these promises and then also sort of gave us a, a s- very short list of co- list of, like, things he asks of you.

Yeah, yeah.

I think it, like, set the standard really early of, like, not just this is a high-performing space, but also, like, this is an environment where you guys work as a team and we all respect each other.

And I think that was, like-

Yeah.

Oh, I have a story.

Okay.

My mom told me I was going to be the only Summer because it's like a unique name.

And I was like, okay, great, good, good to know.

And then I got to kindergarten and I happened to have another Summer in my class.

And so I was known as Summer Howell, Summer H, Summer W.

But how did the carries of the past really influence you to being the carry of today?

Summer, how do you feel? You've made a grown man very scared.

Um, great.

I think I did well.

Please say hello to Carrie White.

Being Carrie has been an honor and just life-changing, and the fact that this version of her is so different.

Oh,

definitely.

It's like an out-of-body experience getting the role.