Stephen King's THE STAND was originally released back in 1978 before being revised and expanded to over 1000 pages in 1990. The mini-series released in 1994 was widely considered one of the best King adaptations on the small screen and a recent comic book series continued the trend of retelling the classic and sprawling tale of a post-apocalyptic war between good and evil. With the big screen version finally on it's way to reality, there are undoubtedly going to be some changes to the story, but why mess with a good thing?
THE STAND has long been looked at as a potential multi-film story that could unfold LORD OF THE RINGS style in several chapters. While the franchise route may still be the direction Warner Bros is headed, THE FAULT IN OUR STARS director Josh Boone is currently revising the last screenplay to get it ready for the big screen. One of those changes may be reverting the ending which was drastically altered according to leaked information from the draft by David Kajganich. Fans of the novel will see the major difference from King's original below. Spoilers for those who haven't read the novel.
In this version, from last year, the good guy survivors from Boulder get together in an army and march on Las Vegas to kill Randall Flagg. Flagg's headquarters is, of course, the Luxor Pyramid. The Boulderites invade the city while, off to the east, a squad fights at the Boulder Dam – which Trashcan Man explodes, killing Larry Underwood and sending a deadly flood to Vegas. In the city Flagg squares off against hero Stu Redman… who now has the power of God, and they have an Akira-like battle on the Las Vegas Strip, with Flagg trying to take Stu's magic. Cars are thrown, Excalbur's turrets are tossed, the people of Vegas are used by Flagg as disposable cannon-fodder. Meanwhile Nick Andros sacrifices his life taking out a howitzer. The Boulder forces, while armed, try to only take prisoners and rescue people from being under Flagg's evil spell. It all comes down to Flagg and Stu, and whether or not Stu will absorb Flagg's evil magic.
And there's a mid-credits tag that sets up a sequel. Yes, a The Stand 2.
Now, if this turns out to be true, then the creative team behind THE STAND have absolutely zero grasp on what made the novel so great. Yes, it is supernatural in nature and yes there is a major God vs Satan story, but turning the ending into a MATRIX-like battle totally misses the mark. Hopefully this last draft was not the one Ben Affleck or Scott Cooper was working on as it sounds downright awful.
Josh Boone‘s THE STAND does not have a release date, but stay tuned for more details.