Contains spoilers for “Carrie” Episode 6 – “Home Economics”
Amazon Prime Video’s “Carrie” has a few recognizable faces in the main cast, but the series also features an additional secret cast member who’s more famous than the lot of them. In line with previous episodes of Mike Flanagan’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “Carrie,” Episode 6 opens with a short scene narrated by the showrunner’s wife, Kate Siegel, about a woman having the ability to do something extraordinary. The camera focuses on a psychic’s shop as Siegel introduces Damon Nostra, whose real name is Greg McMurray, a formerly famous fortune teller. When the camera enters the fake psychic’s shop, the show surprises fans with a cameo from Mark Hamill.
The “Star Wars” actor is totally unrecognizable in the role thanks to what appears to be a mixture of makeup and prosthetics. He also has a deeper voice than usual and he puts on an accent to indicate that McMurray/Nostra is trying to deceive people into thinking he is actually mystical. As the scene continues, a woman who claims she keeps getting visions visits Nostra, and he gets spooked by her manic behaviour. The woman learns Nostra is a fake psychic, so she decides to set herself free by gouging her eyes out with glass. It’s a brutal opening to the episode, which was directed by Hiromi Kamata, known for her work on the likes of “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” and “Shōgun.”
Flanagan said Hamill wanted the cameo to stay secret
Mike Flanagan and Mark Hamill already had a working relationship prior to “Carrie” — Hamill appeared in Flanagan’s Netflix series “The Fall of the House of Usher” and in his film “The Life of Chuck,” another Stephen King adaptation. When it came to his latest cameo, Hamill was able to demand one thing: Make it a surprise. “His whole thing was just like, ‘Just don’t tell anyone I’m doing that.’ He just wanted to be part of it,” Flanagan told People. “It was so fun. To see him just chewing that set and creating this really fun character, it was a blast.”
Hamill actually has a history of popping up in Stephen King adaptations. As well as “Carrie” and “The Life of Chuck,” he played the Major in “The Long Walk” and he also had an uncredited role in the 1992 film “Sleepwalkers,” written by King. And, given his relationship with Flanagan, there’s a good chance he’ll appear in more down the line, as Flanagan is set to take charge of two more Stephen King adaptations: He’s directing a movie based on “The Mist,” and Flanagan’s “Dark Tower” Prime Video series has been delayed but is still in the works.