The Stand is described as "King's apocalyptic vision of a world decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil. The fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied by a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the nefarious 'Dark Man.'"
The tenth and final episode will be directed by Josh Boone, and written by Stephen King & Owen King.
Production
On February 25, 2014, it was announced that Warner Bros. Pictures and CBS Films were developing a film adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Stand. The film was expected to be produced by Josh Boone with Jimmy Miller and Roy Lee serving as producers. On March 30, 2018, it was reported that CBS All Access were redeveloping the project into a ten-hour limited series with Boone still attached to serve as director. On January 30, 2019, it was announced that CBS All Access had given the production a series order consisting of ten episodes. The series was set to be written by Boone and Ben Cavell both of whom were also expected to serve as executive producers alongside Roy Lee, Jimmy Miller, and Richard P. Rubinstein with Will Weiske and Miri Yoon serving as co-executive producers and Owen King as producer. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Vertigo Entertainment, Mosaic Media Group and CBS Television Studios.
Casting
In June 2019, James Marsden, Amber Heard, Whoopi Goldberg, Greg Kinnear, Odessa Young and Henry Zaga were all in consideration for the roles of Stu Redman, Nadine Cross, Mother Abigail, Glen Bateman, Frannie Goldsmith and Nick Andros, respectively. On July 8, Marilyn Manson confirmed in an interview with Revolver that he had been cast in an undisclosed role and also recorded a cover of The Doors' "The End" with Shooter Jennings that will be included in the miniseries. On August 1, it was announced at the TCA Summer Presentation by CBS All Access the formal casting of Marsden, Heard, Young, and Zaga were all cast in the series. According to news reports, Stephen King has written an entirely different ending to the final chapter of the series that is also different than the book as well as a coda. In addition, the last episodes will be written by King and his son Owen. On September 11 it was announced that Alexander Skarsgård was cast as Randall Flagg. Also confirmed cast members include Goldberg, Jovan Adepo, Owen Teague, Brad William Henke, and Daniel Sunjata for the roles of Mother Abigail, Larry Underwood, Harold Lauder, Tom Cullen, and Cott respectively. On September 13, 2019, Boone posted a teaser video to Instagram to announce that production on the series had begun. In October, Nat Wolff, Eion Bailey, Katherine McNamara, Hamish Linklater and Heather Graham were added to the cast. Additionally, for The Stand shows that Ezra Miller has an undisclosed role in the series. On August 7, 2019, the reported that Josh Boone cast a hearing actor over a deaf actor for the role of a deaf character, Nick Andros. This sparked a backlash from multiple well-known deaf actors. A deaf man from Los Angeles, Jared Perez-DeBusk, had a brief conversation on Instagram with Boone, sharing the exchange in a vlog and showed screenshots in the comments section. In the comments, Boone explained that the deaf character, in his dreams and when he turns into a ghost, can speak and hear, so it is acceptable to have a hearing actor because the character is both deaf and hearing depending on whether he is asleep or awake. Boone said Zaga is a dedicated actor and has been hard at work learning ASL, and that there would be deaf consultants on set. CAD Media said on Twitter that there would be a meeting on August 7, 2019, between the miniseries' production team and CBS on this issue.
