How Vancouver Became Chamberlain, Maine for Prime Video’s ‘Carrie’
Mike Flanagan’s ‘Carrie’ arrives on Prime Video on Wednesday, October 7, with all eight episodes of the limited series released at once. The story belongs to a fictional Maine town, but Flanagan’s version never actually went to Maine.
The ‘Carrie’ filming locations have become a real point of curiosity ahead of the premiere. Production took place in Vancouver, and a handful of Canadian neighborhoods ended up doing the heavy lifting for the fictional setting. Here is a closer look at where the series was shot and what the trailer has already revealed.
Vancouver Filming Locations Behind the Series
Official filming dates ran from June 16 to October 17, and Flanagan returned to Vancouver in February to start prep on the series. The production was based in Metro Vancouver for the full shoot.
Flanagan was working on familiar ground. All of his Netflix horror series filmed in Vancouver, with the exception of ‘The Haunting of Hill House’. That list includes ‘The Haunting of Bly Manor’, ‘Midnight Mass’ and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’.
The cast also spent the summer in the city. Summer H. Howell plays Carrie, with Samantha Sloyan as her mother Margaret White and Matthew Lillard as Principal Grayle. Michael Trucco and Katee Sackhoff of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ also reunited in Vancouver for the series.
Vancouver has stood in for this story before. The 2002 television version of ‘Carrie’ was also filmed in Vancouver, which makes the city something of a recurring home for Stephen King’s debut novel.
Eric Hamber Secondary School as Ewen High
The most important real world location is the school where so much of Carrie White’s pain unfolds. Eric Hamber School in Vancouver stands in for Carrie’s high school, which is called Ewen High School in King’s novel. The 1976 movie called the same school Bates High School.
The building features heavily in the marketing. Eric Hamber Secondary School appears prominently in the official trailer released on Wednesday, September 9. The production transformed it into Ewen High School for filming.
Viewers can already pick out specific spaces. Classrooms, a changeroom and a gymnasium can all be seen in the trailer. The footage offers a taste of the traumatic incidents that begin to push Carrie over the edge.
For a story built on the cruelty of school life, shooting in a real building gives those scenes an ordinary, lived in look. That grounding is likely to matter once the story moves toward its violent turn.
Cloverdale Shoot and the Fiery Set Piece
If Eric Hamber supplies the school, Cloverdale supplies the town. Cloverdale, British Columbia stands in for Chamberlain, Maine. Parts of the neighbourhood were transformed for a shoot lasting several days, with storefronts altered and streets closed.
The schedule was demanding for the neighbourhood. Filming began in Cloverdale on Thursday, July 17 and wrapped on Saturday, July 19, with most of the work taking place at night.
The shoot produced one of the production’s biggest images. The highlight was an action packed set piece in which a number of cars appear to be set ablaze. That fiery scene made the cut for the new trailer.
The shoot also carried real weight for the community. Cloverdale BIA executive director Paul Orazietti told Daily Hive that “Filming is very important to the province, Metro Vancouver, and to Cloverdale.” He added that one shoot brings more revenue to Cloverdale’s Town Centre than the Rodeo and Fairgrounds do in a full year.
Bridge Studios and the Production Timeline
Not every scene was shot on location. Sound stages for the series were at The Bridge Studios, which handled the interior work. The producers are Intrepid Pictures, Red Room Pictures and Amazon MGM Studios.
When filming ended, Flanagan marked the moment publicly. He posted from the last day of filming and said he could not wait for audiences to see what the team had made.
The rollout has moved quickly since then. A teaser was shown at a San Diego Comic Con panel, and the series was set to close Primetime at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 18 ahead of its October 7 premiere.
With the release days away, the locations may be the most interesting thing to watch for. Readers who spot Eric Hamber’s gymnasium or the burning Cloverdale street are welcome to tell us in the comments whether Vancouver convincingly passed for Chamberlain, Maine.
