Nobody said adapting an 823-page novel about the post-apocalyptic horror of living in the American South would be easy. Still, much like a certain other Stephen King property that has been in development since roughly the dawn of time, the bumpy process of turning his novel The Stand into a movie/miniseries/whatever has hit another speed bump. Last summer’s hopes it would soon be an eight-episode miniseries on Showtime followed by a three-hour movie are once more dashed, so maybe hold off on the Randall Flagg Halloween costume for now. Deadline reports the project has once again stalled, though at least this time it’s taking a backseat to another King novel being adapted: 2014’s evil electricity-wielding preacher story Revival.
Both projects are under the stewardship of writer-director Josh Boone (The Fault In Our Stars), who speaks about the author’s works with the kind of fervor reserved for really serious King dorks. “I’ve read every book Stephen King has written, multiple times; he taught me how to write characters,” Boone insists, essentially daring anyone to question his bona fides. He and his writing partner have already turned in a script for Revival, which follows a “charismatic preacher who loses his faith when his wife and child are killed in a tragic accident. Unhinged from the religion that grounded and gave him a conscience, the preacher becomes ruthless in his experimentation into the healing but dangerous power of electrical current, positioning him to act as God-like faith healer and opening a terrifying Pandora’s Box.” He plans to start production this year.
In the meantime, The Stand once more goes back on the shelf, where it sits gathering dust, much like in your apartment. Boone had asked King for more time on the adaptation, which is what led to the development of Revival in the first place. All of this means that now there are only roughly three dozen King adaptations in the works, instead of three dozen and one. But Boone insists The Stand is still going to happen, and given his King obsession, it’s not clear if he means the adaptation of the novel or the actual end of human civilization, along with a slightly too on-the-nose struggle between religious metaphors.