There's a reason why TV fans might recognise Carrie's mum in reboot
Two TV worlds have well and truly collided with the release of Amazon Prime’s new Carrie reboot, as fans have realised they recognise one of the main characters from another huge drama.
The Gen Z eight-episode show is the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s iconic 1974 horror novel, and it dropped onto the streaming platform on 7 October to rave reviews.
It stars Summer H. Howell as the titular character Carrie White, who, raised by her overprotective mother, enters public high school following her father’s death.
She faces a viral bullying scandal and discovers she has mysterious telekinetic powers.
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While watching, viewers have been unable to work out exactly where they recognise her mother from, until now.
The actress playing Margaret White is actually Samantha Sloyan, who played Dr. Penelope Blake, aka ‘Perfect Penny’ in Grey’s Anatomy.
For those who have no idea what we’re talking about, the character is unfortunately associated with one of the show’s most controversial and tragic deaths.
‘Perfect Penny’ was famously one of the doctors who tended to McDreamy, Derek Shepherd (Patrick Dempsey), when he came into the Dillard ER after his car accident in season 11.
The episode, titled 'How to Save a Life', originally aired back in April 2015, but has stuck with fans for years since.
Ironically, the world-renowned neurosurgeon Derek was aware that the doctors were making critical mistakes; however, he was unable to communicate effectively enough to save himself.
Although Penny pushed for a CT scan for Derek, her superior ignored her, which led to the beloved character’s death.
Things got even more awkward when Penny started dating Callie (Sara Ramirez), who brought Penny along to Meredith's (Ellen Pompeo) house for dinner.
During the dinner, Meredith immediately recognises her, and after realising she’s been hired as a new resident at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, drops the iconic line: "Perfect Penny killed my husband."
Viewers of the new Carrie series couldn’t help but make references to the infamous scene once they realised it was the same actress.
One shocked social media user asked: “IS THAT PENNY BLAKE?” while a second wrote, “Perfect Penny was scarily good in this role.”
A third asked: “Is that perfect Penny from Grey's?” and a fourth added: “That’s perfect Penny who killed Meredith’s husband.”
While a fifth admitted: “I can’t watch this without thinking about how Margaret is “Perfect Penny” who killed Derek Shepherd bc she refused to get that head CT #Carrie.”
A sixth wrote: “Oh my god I finally figured it out!!!! The actress that plays Carrie's mom is Perfect Penny!!!!”
And a seventh joked: “Perfect Penny getting on my nerves. Carrietta need to lock her back in the closet #carrie.”
Reflecting on her iconic Grey’s episode with Metro Entertainment, Sloyan said: "It was such an important episode that when I auditioned, there were what they called 'dummy sides'.
"The names aren't correct, like the story isn't correct. So going in, I didn't even know where I was gonna be."
The actress revealed that she didn't even know the fate of Dempsey's character until they were already shooting.
She admitted: "At the end of that episode, I didn't know that we were gonna lose his character until we were already shooting. "When that happened, I really was like, 'Oh my God'. I had friends and family friends who were really, really big fans, and I just knew they were gonna be so upset.”
Topics: Grey's Anatomy, Gen Z, Entertainment, TV And Film, Amazon Prime
Madison Burgess