The new miniseries version of Stephen King’s The Stand is starting to shape up with major cast announcements emerging for the series, which is likely to premiere in 2020. The recent CBS Television Critics Association presentation included a lot of new casting information about the production, as well as the close involvement of Stephen King in the finale. There may not be any major surprises in the cast, but to us it seems like a solid enough choice for the CBS All Access series.
James Marsden will be taking on the role of Stu Redman, the nominal male lead of King’s novel, building off the actor’s strong recent turns in Westworld and Dead to Me. Another key casting is Odessa Young, who will play Frannie Goldsmith, a young woman from Maine who has to deal with a pregnancy in a post-apocalyptic America. Young is less well-known than Marsden, but has still had a number of parts in recent films such as Assassination Nation.
We also have Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, who falls under the influence of chief villain Randall Flagg. Heard’s familiar from her role as Mera in Aquaman of course, and has turned up in everything from Magic Mike XXL to Pineapple Express.
Rounding out the casting news, Henry Zaga will play Nick Andros, a deaf mute who overcomes an attack at the beginning of the novel to play a key role in the story. Zaga is perhaps best known for 13 Reasons Why, and is also part of The Stand executive producer Josh Boone’s much-delayed The New Mutants.
Again, the casting news doesn’t contain many surprises, at least not compared to Whoopi Goldberg appearing as Mother Abigail, or that Marilyn Manson will show up, and still leaves open key roles like Randall Flagg. As such, we expect there’ll be more announcements for The Stand soon, given that principal photography is expected to begin in September, but tell us, what do you think of the latest casting news? As always, share your thoughts in the comments below.
