Summary
- Stephen King’s The Stand miniseries had a huge cast but wasn’t as loved as other adaptations.
- Stephen King visited the set during filming and its massive scope made it an unforgettable experience.
- Fans question the necessity of a movie adaptation due to the challenges of condensing the lengthy book.
Stephen King’s The Stand is getting a movie adaptation from director Doug Liman, and fans think the book is too long to be turned into a film. The 1987 novel has two miniseries adaptations, and there’s a fascinating story about a time when the legendary author visited the set of the 1990s show.
The Stand miniseries, which had four episodes, aired on ABC in May 1994. The series famously had a huge cast including Molly Ringwald, John Landis, Rob Lowe, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, Laura San Giacomo, Kathy Bates, Ruby Dee, and Jamey Sheridan. While countless King books have been adapted for film and TV, sometimes more than once, The Stand miniseries isn’t one of the most beloved. It only has a 70% Rotten Tomatoes rating and 73% on the Popcornmeter. But, although it didn’t make a lasting impression on the world of pop culture, fans will want to hear what happened during King’s set visit.
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Stephen King’s Visit To The Stand 1994 Miniseries Set Was Memorable
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, The Stand director Mike Garris shared what happened when Stephen King arrived on set. He said:
“Stephen King came in to visit the location when we were doing this huge scene in downtown Las Vegas with 600 extras. You know, he’s 6-foot-5 and stands out in a crowd. Suddenly, all 600 of them swarmed him. He got back on the plane and flew back home. It bordered on dangerous.”
This behind-the-scenes anecdote speaks to the huge cast of The Stand miniseries, along with King’s long-standing celebrity. Garris also told Entertainment Weekly that filming the King TV adaptation was definitely an unforgettable experience. He said, “The weather was always wrong” and the sun would shine on days that called for snow and if the weather report said there would be sunshine, it rained. The shoot took 20 weeks, and the cast and crew were on set five days a week for 13 weeks. Then, they filmed six days a week for the final six weeks. He added:
“You know, there wasn’t light at the end of the tunnel. We weren’t even in the tunnel! It was just massive in scope.”
The Stand follows a group of people living in the U.S. who are terrified of being infected by a deadly flu strain that is weaponized. It’s a dark dystopian story that has more than a few main characters, and while that has made adapting it tough, it’s one of King’s most popular and well-respected books.
Over 20 years later, a second The Stand miniseries premiered on Paramount+/Starz in December 2020. The show starred James Marsden, Amber Heard, Whoopi Goldberg, Owen Teague, Odessa Young, and Alexander Skarsgård, with a long list of guest stars including Heather Graham and Hamish Linklater. King was a fan of the adaptation and tweeted, “I’m loving this iteration of THE STAND.” He praised several stars, including Teague, who starred in IT, and Natalie Martinez, who appeared in the poorly received TV series Under the Dome, which wasn’t well-received.
Many fans question the necessity of a movie based on King’s post-apocalyptic novel since it might be tricky to fit the lengthy book, which is more than 1,000 pages, into just one movie. Two of King’s other dystopian novels, The Long Walk and The Running Man (written as Richard Bachman), have been turned into movies. Fans can check out the former on September 12th, 2025 and the latter on November 5th, 2025. A trailer for The Running Man, which stars Glen Powell and was directed by Edgar Wright, was recently released.
The Stand
- Release Date
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1994 – 1993
- Directors
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Mick Garris
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