In the last several years, Warner Bros.’ long-gestating adaptation of Steven King’s The Stand has hit its share of roadblocks. Before he was called away to fulfill his destiny by playing Batman, Ben Affleck was going to direct. Then it got passed along to Scott Cooper, before finally landing in the lap of The Fault In Our Stars director Josh Boone, who promised that the sprawling tale of desperate people wandering the earth following the total collapse of civilization would be rated R and feature “an amazing A-list cast.” According to Deadline, the A-lister hunt is on, and topping the wish list is Matthew McConaughey as villain Randall Flagg.
Played by Jamey Sheridan in the 1994 TV miniseries, Randall Flagg is the megalomaniacal embodiment of evil, and the leader of one group of survivors after most of humanity is wiped out by a plague. Having spent a lot of his recent time battling lurking, unknowable forces on HBO’s True Detective, perhaps producers at Warner Bros. figure it will be easy for McConaughey to switch sides.