In the wake of Andy Muschietti’s wildly successful adaptation of the author’s terrifying benchmark novel, IT, Stephen King’s oeuvre is being plucked clean by studio vultures. With the remake of Pet Sematary expected to begin production next month in Toronto, and The Bone Church having just been optioned by David Ayer’s (Suicide Squad) Cedar Park Entertainment, the Stephen King universe continues to inflate exponentially.
Today, The Tracking Board is reporting that another meaty chunk has been picked from the carcass of King’s canon, The Stand. CBS All Access is planning on converting the 862-page novel into a ten-hour limited series with writer-director Josh Boone (The New Mutants) at the helm. In fact, he’s been attached to an adaptation of the 1978 classic since 2014, initially planning on a three-hour long, R-rated film.
Although nothing has been confirmed by CBS, last September King stated that “there’s talk about doing The Stand as an extended TV series, possibly for Showtime or CBS All Access,” so it seems there’s a level of truthfulness behind the rumour. Opting for a series would make for a more faithful adaptation of the post-apocalyptic epic, too, though it’ll surely disappoint fans hoping to see the novel play out on the big screen.
Back in 2014, there’d been some talk that Matthew McConaughey would tackle the role of Randall Flagg, coincidentally enough, before the Academy Award-winner portrayed the villain in last year’s adaptation of another King novel, The Dark Tower. For those who don’t know, The Stand marked the first appearance of Flagg in the author’s work, as he would later surface in “The Eyes of the Dragon, the aforementioned Dark Tower novels, Hearts in Atlantis and Gwendy’s Button Box.”
As for whether McConaughey would still play the role in The Stand as well, we don’t know. It’s possible, but given the confusion surrounding The Dark Tower franchise at the moment and the direction it’s heading it, we can’t say for sure. All we know right now is that CBS is eyeing an adaptation and for the time being, that’s enough to have us excited.
