CBS All Access’ upcoming adaptation of the acclaimed Stephen King novel The Stand has already amassed a strong cast and has just grown a little larger as Whoopi Goldberg (Nobody’s Fool) has officially joined the cast alongside Jovan Adepo (Overlord), Owen Teague (It), Brad William Henke (Orange is the New Black) and Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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James Marsden (Westworld) is set to play Stu Redman, a Texan who is the first man discovered to be immune to the Captain Trips virus that has ravaged the planet. He eventually becomes a leader in a community known as the Free Zone and is tasked with confronting the evil Randall Flagg. Amber Heard (Aquaman) will play Nadine Cross, a private school teacher and a virgin who believes she has a unique destiny to be by Flagg’s side.
Oscar winner Goldberg has completed negotiations to play Mother Abagail, who is immune to the superflu and leads the ‘good’ survivors of the plague toward Boulder, Colorado. She also claims to be a prophet of God. Ruby Dee originated the character in the miniseries. Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear (As Good as It Gets) is in negotiations to play Glen Bateman, an arthritis-afflicted professor who joins Stu on his journey to meet Mother Abagail.
Odessa Young (Assassination Nation) is set to play Frannie Goldsmith, a pregnant woman who leaves her devastated community with a man named Harold Lauder, but ends up falling in love with Stu, much to Harold’s chagrin. Henry Zaga (The New Mutants) will play Nick Andros, a young, deaf-mute grifter who wears an eye patch for most of King’s book.
Adepo has signed on to play Larry Underwood, a young musician with a taste for fame and illegal substances who is forced to confront his demons during his trek to the new world after the plague hits. Underwood was previously played by Adam Storke (Mystic Pizza) in the miniseries.
Teague will play Harold Lauder, who goes searching for fellow survivors with Frannie, but while he has good intentions, his infatuation with his fellow survivor and jealousy could lead him down a dark path. Supernatural‘s Corin Nemec portrayed Lauder in the miniseries.
Henke is set to play Tom Cullen, Andros’ traveling companion who is a sweet soul, but is developmentally disabled after a childhood accident who will play an instrumental role in the fight for survival. Cullen was played by SpongeBob SquarePants veteran Bill Fagerbakke.
Sunjata will guest star as a new character named Cobb, a military man charged with supervising Stu as the government searches for a cure during the outbreak.
The 10 episode series from writers Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars, The New Mutants) and Ben Cavell (SEAL Team), reveals that this is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after, a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides — or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail — and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.
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Boone, who has been developing the project for years, will also direct the series for CBS Television Studios. Boone, Roy Lee, Jimmy Miller, Richard P. Rubinstein, and Cavell will executive produce. Will Weiske and Miri Yoon will co-executive produce with Owen King serving as producer.
(Photo Credit: Backgrid Images)
