James Marsden and Amber Heard Among Rumored Cast Members for The Stand

Author Stephen King delivered readers The Stand in 1978, an apocalyptic story about the struggle between good and evil with a fantastical and horrifying narrative. At over 1,100 pages, the story is one of King's most famous, even for those who have never read it. In the '90s, the story was developed into a four-part miniseries starring Gary Sinise, Laura San Giacomo, and Molly Ringwald, though it suffered from the production budget woes of many King-inspired miniseries. Earlier this year, CBS confirmed that it would be developing a new adaptation of the material, with James Marsden and Amber Heard being among the reported stars who are joining the production.

Collider claims that Marsden is in talks to play Stu Redman, previously played by Sinise, who is described as "a Texan who is the first man discovered to be immune to the Captain Trips virus that has ravaged the planet." Heard is up for Nadine Cross, previously played by San Giacomo, "a private school teacher and virgin who believes she has a unique destiny to be by Randal Flagg's side."

Whoopi Goldberg is rumored to be in talks for Mother Abigail, previously played by Ruby Dee, Greg Kinnear is up for Glen Bateman, previously played by Ray Walston, and Odessa Young is up for Frannie Goldsmith, previously played by Ringwald. Henry Zaga is rumored for Nick Andros, who was played by Rob Lowe in the miniseries.

It is currently unknown who is up for the iconic role of Randal Flagg.

Earlier this year, King himself revealed what has him so excited for the new adaptation.

"I like [showrunner] Josh Boone's work, I actually worked with him on his first feature," King shared on the Post Mortem Podcast. "And then he did The Fault in Our Stars, which I thought showed his grasp of the medium. And I like him a lot. I like his reach… his ambition for [The Stand]. Really the thing I'm most excited about is, first of all, we've got two more hours to tell the story. And second, we're free of all those things that held us back with [the original mini-series]. Not only is the budget bigger… we're free… in terms of language, in terms of violence… in a way that we weren't with the original."

Stay tuned for details on the new adaptation of The Stand.

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