TV’s Newest Scream Queen Summer H. Howell Has Been Preparing for ‘Carrie’ Her Whole Life

For someone on the precipice of a life-changing moment, Carrie star Summer H. Howell is surprisingly calm.

The 22-year-old actress has spent the last year warming up to the idea that she was moving into a new phase of her career with the role as the titular character in Mike Flanagan‘s Stephen King adaptation. Described as a new take on the iconic horror story, Carrie‘s a natural progression, as she puts it, in the trajectory her career’s been on.

Howell took her first role in a horror film at the age of 8 and hasn’t looked back since. “I feel like I’ve been preparing to be Carrie my whole life,” she tells The Hollywood Reporter on a recent Zoom. The show marks her first time leading a television project — or really any major television project.

But the show, which premiered on the streamer Wednesday, is exactly what Howell was looking for after gaining years of experience in horror films. “I kind of drew this whole project towards me,” she says. “I’m big into manifesting, and I write things like I have them already.”

With this manifestation, it was less about the show itself and more about the environment — she later admits she actually didn’t know much about Carrie going in. She’d seen an image or a GIF here and there, but once she started auditioning, she stayed away from Carrie, both the book and the 1976 film, entirely. It was clear that Flanagan’s version was going for a different take on the story, so it just made sense. No need to worry, she’s since consumed both.

Instead, Howell manifested working with “good, genuine people who are kind and want to make real art.” She realized once she was on set that her manifestations had been describing the crew of Carrie perfectly.

Howell’s blind faith likely helped, but she also put in hours upon hours to grab the coveted role. She sent in her first tape for the project in January 2025. A month or so later, she sent in the next, new scenes and everything. And so it went for quite some time.

While many young actors might’ve found nerves in a lengthy casting process, Howell found herself having a “really good feeling” about her situation. “I started getting deja vu, like I was on the right timeline or something,” she says. “I was telling my friends and family something’s going to happen; they’re going to want to talk to me. And they did.”

The actress did a “long work session” with the casting team on a Friday in March 2025. Flanagan wasn’t on the call, something that, at the time, she was grateful for. She needed to focus. She did four intense scenes, including one where she’d have to cry. Finding some boldness within herself, maybe as only an actor with over a decade of experience can, she told the team: “If you want to see tears, it’ll happen on the day.”

The call ended, and Howell was told Flanagan would watch over the weekend. “He didn’t,” she explains. “He watched it right away. All of a sudden I was back on a call.”

Her manager called her with the request to redo the monologue, this time with tears. “I remember laying on my floor in my room just telling myself all these affirmations and how I’ve come so far,” she says. She did it and went into her weekend anxiously awaiting news.

By that next Tuesday, April Fool’s Day of all days, Flanagan, backed with approval from King himself, called to tell her the good news. “The first thing my mom said to me when I got the part was, ‘Your life is going to change forever,'” she recalls.

“I feel like I made it happen,” Howell says. “It was meant to be.”

Below, the Carrie star speaks with THR about leading the project, why the show gave her hope as a young actor and what a typical day in her life looks like.

What was it like for you to be number one on the call sheet and lead this project? That feels like a responsibility.

If I hadn’t been acting before I got this job, I would’ve been freaking out the entire time. They probably would’ve fired me because I would not have made the space what I did with all my experience. That was one of the things Mike and I talked about on the first call, [that] he expected me to lead people, lead the actors. Me and Sam[antha Sloyan] were seen as the heads of the department in that way. But it came easier because of my experience. If I was complaining during prom [about] being covered in blood, nobody would’ve had a good time.

Having worked in horror since you were very young, were you totally prepared for that day you had to spend prom covered in blood?

I mean, you say day, but it was nine days. It might’ve been 11, if we’re including after prom. I was prepared, but I didn’t understand until I was there and I was doing it. A lot of patience required, relying on other people to touch everything for me. I couldn’t really do much because my hands, down to the fingertips, were covered and [they’d tell me] “Don’t mess up the continuity!”

When you are stepping into the role of Carrie and you have Mike Flanagan at the helm, are you just trusting that he’s going to lead you in the right direction? What does that partnership look like?

Absolutely. I mean, it took time to build that trust, but it came very quickly. It was apparent from the start that Mike… Once you’re chosen by Mike, you’re in this little family. As long as you’re nice to people and you do your job — you show up ready — that’s all he asks of us. He told me right from the start, as much Carrie is his and Stephen’s, she’s now mine, which is unbelievable to think about. He trusted us. I mean, he knows he’s a man and that this is a woman’s story. He made a point to hire women who could shape it the way it needed to be told. We had a lot of powerful directors and powerful women behind the scenes helping us out. It’s just so nice to be given that space and listened to.

Did that give you a little bit of hope as a young actress in this industry?

Oh, absolutely. You never know who you’re going to have to work with going in, so it was so reassuring knowing Mike is so kind and prioritizes our comfort and our safety. He makes sure we’re happy with the people we’re working with. There were no mean people. We all got along so well, and Mike was pleasantly surprised with that. He kind of paved the way. It gives you hope for sure.

Was going back and forth between school and acting something you found difficult as a child?

Maybe a little bit. I was the only actor growing up, so I was known for that, and people view me a certain way, I’m sure. It’s made me think back on things. Maybe they saw me a certain way and that’s why we weren’t friends, for whatever reason. It’s strange, for sure. Being a child actor can be very sketchy and weird, but as long as you’re good people… I was very lucky. My mom has always looked out for me and been my rock and stood up to whoever she needed to and taught me how to do that myself. It was awkward sometimes, but…

What’s something about you that you think people would be surprised to know?

The first thing that comes to mind is that I’m 22. When I’m not dolled up, I look very young. It’s funny, I checked into the hotel the other night, and we went down to the lounge. The guy told us to come back at a certain time for the champagne thing. “Not for you, but for you,” [he said] to my mom. I was like, well, I’m 22, but OK.

What does your ideal day off look like?

Make some good food. I like to cook, so I’ll make something. Spend time outside. Preferably, it’d be nice out and not the middle of winter in Manitoba, which can be awful. Spend time with my loved ones, curl up on the couch, watch some TV with my mom, hug my dogs all day and block out the world.

What are you hoping to do next? Are you looking outside of horror?

I like to branch out. Not in a leave horror behind way. I still love horror, and I will continue to do horror but it’d be nice to go to work and not cry and scream all the time. I just filmed an action movie called Runaway, so that’ll be coming out sometime next year. I really enjoyed that. Besides all the bruises I walked away with, it was really worth it and fun. I’d like to do some action-adventure or a dramedy or get myself into comedy, maybe. I’d like to do it all.