A new mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's epic novel The Stand (which you can buy HERE) is set to premiere on the CBS All Access streaming service on December 17th, and it nearly featured a character who wasn't in the original edition of the novel.
King had to remove a whole novel's worth of pages from The Stand before Doubleday would publish it in 1978, but twelve years later he was able to put a lot of those pages back in for 1990's The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition. Among the things those re-inserted pages added to the book was a character called The Kid, a maniac who drives a customized 1932 Ford deuce coupe he gives the pyromaniac Trashcan Man a nightmarish ride in.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Ezra Miller plays Trashcan Man in the new mini-series, and during an interview with Entertainment Weekly that covered Miller's casting, The Stand showrunner Benjamin Cavell mentioned that there had been plans for The Kid to be in the mini-series as well. In fact, that's why we had heard Marilyn Manson was up for an acting role in the show; while many speculated that Manson might be playing Trashcan Man, he was actually in talks to play The Kid.
Here's the section of the EW article where Cavell talks about The Kid:
We were talking to [Manson] early on about playing The Kid, who drives Trashcan Man to Vegas,” Cavell reveals. The showrunner noted he was initially excited to include The Kid because he’s a colorful character from King’s extended version of The Stand who wasn’t in the previous 1994 mini-series adaptation of the material. But during the writing process, Cavell realized – as presumably did King when he completed his first edition of the book – there just wasn’t enough of a reason to have the character in the story. “We thought we were going to be able to restore the character of The Kid, but there really isn’t a lot of reason for The Kid to exist."
So we almost got to see Manson play The Kid, but as it turns out The Kid was left out of this mini-series, just like he was left out of the 1994 mini-series (pick up a copy of that HERE) and the original version of the novel. It would have been interesting to see The Kid, but he really is an expendable character.
The Stand tells the following story:
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 Abagail — and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.
In addition to Ezra Miller as Trashcan Man, the mini-series stars Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abagail, Alexander Skarsgård as Randall Flagg, James Marsden as Stu Redman, Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith, Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood, Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman, Henry Zaga as Nick Andros, Brad William Henke as Tom Cullen, Irene Bedard as Ray Bretner, Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, Katherine McNamara as Julie Lawry, Natalie Martinez as Dayna Jurgens, Hamish Linklater as Dr. Ellis, Eion Bailey as Teddy Weizak, Daniel Sunjata as Cobb, Fiona Dourif as the Rat Woman, Nat Wolff as Lloyd Henreid, and Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor.
Cavell, Josh Boone, Jill Killington, and King's son Owen King wrote the scripts for the episodes, with Stephen King himself writing a new ending for the story that will go beyond the events of the book and make up a substantial part of the final episode. Boone directed the first and last episodes.
The Stand was produced by CBS Television Studios. Boone and Cavell executive produced with Taylor Elmore, Will Weiske, Roy Lee, Jimmy Miller, and Richard P. Rubinstein. Will Weiske and Miri Yoon served as co-executive producers, and Jake Braver, Stephen Welke, Knate Lee, Jill Killington, and Owen King have producer credits.