Stephen King's THE STAND will be a miniseries followed by a movie

I’ve never read Stephen King’s post-apocalyptic fantasy tome The Stand, nor have I seen the famous 1990’s TV miniseries adaptation of it that starred Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald and Rob Lowe. When I ask my friends who are familiar with the story though to describe it to me, one word comes up almost every single time without fail: Epic.

King’s story about a group of survivors who have to face off against the forces of evil, personified by the demonic Randal Flagg, after most of America’s population is wiped out by a deadly virus, is apparently massively sprawling, which may be why it’s never been able to be adapted into just a normal 3-hour long feature film. And it seems that Warner Bros’ upcoming adaptation won’t be trying to do that either.

The Wrap is reporting that WB and writer/director Josh Boone (Fault In Our Stars) are in talks with Showtime to produce a 8-part miniseries, which will then be followed up with a big budget feature film. Boone will write and direct all 8 episodes of the TV series as well as the movie, which is expected to start production early next year and will all be done in one single shoot.

As you may recall, back when Ron Howard was still developing an adaptation of King’s even more epic The Dark Tower, he also planned to use the approach of miniseries leading into movies, to allow for a more comprehensive adaptation. That production eventually stalled out at WB, although it’s recently been revived by Sony. In what format though, is uncertain, but you would have to think though that if this works for The Stand, then Sony may just try it again for The Dark Tower (which, by the way, also features Flagg as a major character).

Thus far there’s no word on who will be playing Flagg or any of the other characters, but it is believed that Boon and co will be targeting A-list actors/actresses, more and more of whom are looking for these high-profile TV gigs after the success of HBO’s True Detective. Coincidentally, the last rumour we heard pegged True Detective season one star Matthew McConaughey as WB’s first choice to play Flagg, which is not a bad selection at all.

So what do you think Stand fans (Standies? Standards?)? Do you like this more measured approach instead of cramming into a single movie?

 

 

Last Updated: June 9, 2015