Carrie’s New High School Is Real: Inside the Vancouver Locations Behind the Horror

Carrie’s new school was once somebody else’s real high school. Mike Flanagan’s series used the old Eric Hamber Secondary building in Vancouver, where students helped fill the background of a place being remade for Stephen King’s story. Elsewhere, a Surrey shopping street acquired American storefronts and staged destruction. Together with studio work, those locations turned British Columbia into Carrie’s unsettling corner of Maine.

The Prime Video series arrives October 7, 2026. Its filming belongs to the previous year: the production worked around Metro Vancouver during 2025, with local reporting following the shoot through its October wrap.

Eric Hamber: the school behind the school

The Griffins’ Nest, Hamber’s independent student newspaper, reported from a community directly involved in the production. The old building’s front entrance was painted blue and its lettering changed. Students learned about background-acting opportunities through Hamber Hub in late spring 2025, giving them a chance to return to familiar surroundings in very different circumstances.

Some students worked repeated takes on the entrance ramp; others balanced very early calls with studying for tests.

The campus has its own long history. The school opened in 1962 and was named for former British Columbia lieutenant governor Eric Hamber. Its original identity, recorded by the school, is quite separate from the American school name applied by the production.

Why photographs of Hamber can look different

There are two buildings to keep straight. Vancouver School Board says students entered the new Hamber Secondary on September 3, 2024. The replacement stands beside the original and includes an atrium, multiple gyms, a theater and specialist teaching rooms. The board said the older building would remain available as temporary accommodation for other school communities during seismic work.

That timeline matters: the new campus was already open before Carrie filmed. The production reports identify the old building, so a recent photograph of the replacement school may show the right institution but the wrong screen location. A historical exterior image is particularly useful here, provided it is dated and does not pretend to show the blue entrance or other temporary filming changes.

Cloverdale became Chamberlain, Maine

For the town beyond the school, the production moved to Cloverdale, a community in Surrey southeast of Vancouver. Hollywood North Buzz identifies its role as Chamberlain, Maine. The location supplies a different kind of space: streets with businesses facing each other, where the camera can establish a town before moving into the characters’ lives.

Daily Hive reported that filming ran from July 17 to 19, 2025, largely at night. Photographs supplied by the Cloverdale business association showed storefronts changed into Chamberlain Public Library and Skent’s Hardware. Other images showed debris and a staged sequence involving apparently burning vehicles.

Those fictional names are useful details to look for on screen. They are temporary production identities, so searching for an operating Chamberlain library in Surrey will lead you astray. Nor does the street shoot establish the precise order of events in the finished episodes. What it does reveal is the scale of the makeover: this involved signs, vehicles and the surrounding street, rather than a single borrowed doorway.

A neighborhood with a long screen career

The City of Surrey describes Cloverdale as its historic center, with a character shaped by railways and the West. It also identifies Smallville, Supernatural and Sabrina among productions drawn to the area. That history helps explain why its town center can feel familiar even before Carrie gives it a new name.

The city’s filming resources include a location map and an interactive screen trail. They are useful for a broader visit, but locations from those other shows should not be treated as additional Carrie sets. A familiar theater, church or shop needs its own connection to this production.

What happened at Bridge Studios?

Hollywood North Buzz lists Bridge Studios as the soundstage base. The report does not identify the rooms built there. There is no confirmed room-by-room map of a prom set, house or classroom to attach to an individual stage.

Bridge’s own site now describes three separate Metro Vancouver campuses: Boundary, Lake City and Griffiths. Its current facilities should not all be assigned to Carrie merely because they share the same brand. The operator also states that it does not offer public tours. This is a working production facility, rather than an extra stop to add to a fan itinerary.

Planning a visit to the real locations

Cloverdale’s public shopping streets make the most practical starting point. Explore the neighborhood in daylight, allow time for its operating businesses and compare permanent building shapes rather than expecting the fictional signs to remain. A road that was closed for a night shoot has returned to everyday traffic.

At Hamber, keep any exterior viewing to lawful public viewpoints and avoid school entrances during arrival or dismissal. The old-building distinction is a reason to choose photographs carefully, not a reason to explore restricted grounds. Students and staff still use the wider campus.

Quick answers

Was this Carrie filmed in Maine? No. These locations are in British Columbia.

Is this the school from the 1976 movie? This guide covers Flanagan’s new series. Its Hamber connection should not be applied to earlier adaptations.

Featured photograph: The old Eric Hamber school building, photographed in 2006. Photo: Arnold C, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons.