In 'Carrie,' Amber Midthunder Brings a Classic Horror Story Down to Earth

This story contains spoilers for Carrie, including the ending. 20 minutes into the second episode of Prime Video’s Carrie adaptation, it does something entirely new with the iconic teen-scream story: It gives the teachers the spotlight. A group of Ewen High School educators, led by first-year gym teacher Rita Desjardin (Amber Midthunder), convene at a bar for happy-hour margaritas—and to discuss Carrie White’s bloody locker-room freakout earlier that day. After her veteran colleagues promise not to be judgmental, Rita admits her candid thoughts: “I spent most of the day wanting to smack her.”

Those familiar with the angelic-ally version of the character that Betty Buckley played in the 1976 Brian De Palma film may be surprised to see a spikier Ms. Desjardin. Her harshness hews closer to Stephen King’s source novel—she actually does slap a hysterical Carrie—but book fans will still meet a new rendition in Mike Flanagan’s contemporary take on the horror tale about a telepathic teen. This “Ms. D,” as actress Amber Midthunder calls her, is more than a flawed authority figure. Through her, viewers see Carrie (Summer H. Howell) through the eyes of a 20-something enduring the trial by fire that is being a teacher.

The 29-year-old Prey star immediately connected with the role. “I personally have a friend of mine who is a former professional athlete turned high school gym teacher, so it was very close to home,” Midthunder tells Marie Claire. “And my grandma's a school teacher. It was really special to be able to bring this element of life to light, because teachers are a very deeply underappreciated, underserved, understaffed, underpaid group of people. The best teachers are the ones who are selfless and kind and invest so much of their heart into that.”

To expand Carrie into an eight-episode series, creator Flanagan (known for horror hits like The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass) combined his skill at crafting well-rounded characters with an exploration of the many nightmares that make up modern education. Metal detectors, active-shooter drills, and mean-girl antics archived by iPhone cameras are among them—and that’s just in the first two episodes. As the semester goes on, Ms. D is drawn into a townwide cyberbullying scandal that impacts her secret romance with fellow teacher Seth Peist (Rahul Kohli).

Midthunder signed on to Carrie as a big fan of both King and Flanagan—she counts the “underloved” Revival among her favorite King books. But as the show premieres, the actress is especially proud to be part of a project that's not just about young people today, but took the time to listen to them. She points out that the writers’ room even met with real high-school students to get their “perspective [on] the dangers and threats that they face in the world around them.”

“I think it's very rare that you meet somebody who has the humility to say, 'There are people who understand X, Y, Z better than I do. Why don't we listen to them?'” she says. “As actors, really our job is just what happens between action and cut. But if we can give kids something to feel seen by, or feel like they have a voice, then we've hopefully done our jobs well.”

Below, Midthunder chats with Marie Claire about going through horror exposure therapy, the period in-between childhood and adulthood, and her character’s tragic ending.

Marie Claire: Were you a big horror fan or Stephen King fan growing up?

Amber Midthunder: I am notoriously afraid amongst this cast. I really struggle with horror, so it has been quite an exposure therapy experience hanging out with this crowd. That said, I am a King fan. What I love about horror is the ability to transcend the genre. You can really explore a lot of interesting concepts and social commentaries, and that is what Mike [Flanagan] and King in particular are really great at. I think what we do with Carrie very much falls into that category.

MC: What early conversations did you have with Mike about how he wanted to approach Ms. Desjardin?

AM: [Carrie] actually came to me in a crazy way. I was meant to be filming something else, and that project, as they often do, pushed a year. It was a 48-hour time period from when that movie pushed to when I was signed onto the show. I was able to read all eight episodes before even meeting with Mike, which is wildly unheard of.

Mike had a really beautiful and brilliant take on this. I think if you come to Carrie as a fan—whether you've read the book or you love the De Palma film—or if our show is your first introduction to Carrie, there is something to love. Mike has expanded the story over eight episodes, so you live in such a deep complexity with these characters that you think you're familiar with, and you learn them in a much more human and complicated way. You have the big set pieces, you have prom, and you have the locker room scene and all these things, but then you also are delivered something very new, and that is quite emotional and grounded.

MC: How would you describe the complicated sympathy that Ms. D has towards Carrie?

AM: I've noticed people have really held onto [the scene in episode 2], where she says, 'Not long ago, I would've been one of those girls in that locker room tormenting Carrie White.’ It's a very important moment of being able to be self-aware and hold yourself accountable to doing better. I think that she's able to make that reflection because she's no longer that person. She looks at Carrie and sees that this is a young, vulnerable, hopeful person who is in danger from the world around them. It's a sad instinct to look at somebody like Carrie and go, Oh, we must change her, instead of examining what is wrong with us and the world around us that we can’t adapt to the qualities that she has. Ms. D's instinct to say, Oh, I want to make her tougher, is out of protection.

Ms. D’s also the youngest of the staff, so she's the most contemporary to the students of any of the faculty. She's able to see everybody from a firsthand outsider perspective, almost. There's no hiding from Ms. D, so she can see who Chris is and that she struggles. She can look at Sue and see that Sue knows better, and she looks at Carrie and understands her vulnerability. Ms. D really wants to level with these girls and be able to be a resource, safe place, or helping hand for them. But what do you do when you either are shut out by the kids themselves, or held back by the rules of the institution that you belong to as a teacher? You can only interfere so much.

MC: Did you reflect on your own high school days as you were working on this project about what high school is like now?

AM: That's also a part of [Ms. D’s] journey. If you have any young people in your world that you care for, you understand how quickly social media and the internet is moving. As an adult, you want to feel like you're a safe place, and it's really difficult to keep up with being that pillar when you also are playing catch up with the world. I was homeschooled for much of high school, but I like that element of Ms. D because I think she is in the middle. Even with the cast, [between] the adults and the kids, it was often like, Where do I go? I think everybody has that time in life.

This is a story of a group of people who are, for the most part, doing their best. Each character that makes their choices—whether you agree with them or not—you understand exactly why they make those choices. You get to watch the complexity of those decisions.

MC: Ms. D is one of the prom-night casualties who dies in this show. What were your thoughts on this tragic ending for the character?

AM: I'm proud that Ms. D is one of the few characters who stays consistently good for Carrie. I think she always holds her stance of, I want to be there for this girl, and I want to protect this girl. It's sad that she ultimately fails, and it really speaks to the moment that Carrie is in. Were she in her right mind and fully in control of her powers, I don't think that that would be the choice that she makes. I thought it was a really beautiful and heartbreaking end to Ms. D’s journey. She's new to this town and this job, with a lot of high hopes and ambition, and you watch that be taken away from her with what happens with Rahul's character. She builds herself back up into this place of [rediscovering] her worth and hope, and then it gets taken away from her.

While they were writing the show, Mike invited a group of high schoolers into the writers’ room to talk with them about what they view are the dangers and threats that they face in the world around them. One of those things was adults like Rahul's character. Mike is not afraid of having an honest conversation about our world, and that's where that storyline came from. So yeah, Ms. D's story is tragic in many ways, and I think it's quite important that we acknowledge that.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.