We were happy as clams when CBS officially announced that it was creating an epic TV adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand. As we have noted about a million times, we love that book here at Trouble City. If any of us were elected president, we would place our hands on a copy of The Stand long before we put it on a bible. It’s THAT good.
But since the news of the show being in development, we haven’t heard much. Josh Boone, the man behind The Fault in Our Stars and the upcoming (maybe?) New Mutants, is a devoted King fan so we trust him with doing his best but the lack of news is definitely concerning. We want news and we want it to be good so we can be understandably excited.
Now comes word of who will be playing who in the 10-episode series. None of these names are official but they come via Collider and they’re a trusted source so commence hyping.
James Marsden is the rumored choice for the hero of the tale, Stu Redman
Amber Heard would be Nadine Cross, Randall Flagg’s tortured lady-love
Whoopi damn Goldberg would be playing Mother Abagail, the elderly woman who leads the heroes against the forces of evil
Greg Kinnear would be playing Glen Bateman, a retired professor and one of the good guys…though he has his doubts in the future of civilization
Newcomer Odessa Young would be taking on the role of Frannie, the heroine of the tale and Stu’s love interest. This is a coveted, huge part.
Finally Henry Zaga of The New Mutants would be playing Nick Andros, the deaf/mute young man who is also one of the leaders of Mother Abagail’s team.
That’s quite the list. A lot of these choices are ones I wouldn’t have thought of but are still interstitial. Marsden seems inspired, as does Kinnear (though he’s far too young to be Bateman but so be it). I think some people will scoff at a few of these picks but this is just the beginning of what will be a major, major cast.
The thing I like the most about these rumored choices is that these are pretty decently-sized stars. Sure, some are unknowns or rising stars but I know most of these names, as do most people. I had a fear that the entire cast would be populated by TV stars that aren’t that big. The fact that CBS and Boone are aiming for bigger names gives me hope that the rest of the cast will be filled with talented, well-known performers. That’s the way I’ve always pictured The Stand and this is just another indication that Boone and his team see this project via the same lense that so many King fans do. They’re trying to make this production BIG and that’s exactly how we all imagined it.
