The Stand: Nat Wolff Explains What Makes this Adaptation Different

Last week, the latest adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand debuted on CBS All Access and as anyone who has seen the first episode knows, even as it remains faithful to King’s story, it’s markedly different from the previous, 1994 miniseries and even in some respects different from the book itself. For Nat Wolff, who plays Lloyd Henreid, right hand man to Randall Flagg himself, the real difference in this new The Stand series is how it reflects different only the world of today.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Wolff said that King’s original story is like Shakespeare, something that can be done in many ways, each reflecting the world around it at the time of the retelling.

“I think the world is different so it reflects differently, the story reflects differently on the world that we live in today than it does then. It’s a completely different take,” Wolff said.

He went on to talk about how approached Lloyd in a way that is completely different from the previous miniseries as well.

“I know for me, my take on Lloyd is completely different than the one in the original miniseries, but I loved the original miniseries, too,” Wolff said. “I think it’s such a great book and a great story. It’s like a Shakespeare play or something you could do it a billion different ways and it would all be really worthwhile. But for me, I spent months working on this character and you know, really trying to emulate some of my heroes like Gary Oldman who change their look and their physicality and their voice but still keep it rooted in their heart and I got to set on the night before shooting my first day. I freaked out and was like, there’s no way I can do this. They have to get somebody else; I’ve taken it too far and then I went to a Subway sandwich and ‘Like a Virgin’ by Madonna came on the radio, and I started dancing like crazy, it possessed me and everyone was staring at me in the Subway and I thought, ‘I think I got the character’. Like, it just hit me, something clicked. And so, I came onto set and anytime I needed to get in that headspace, ‘Like a Virgin’ was there.”

Lloyd also said that, for him, the biggest challenge was not being overwhelmed by the pressure of it all.

“I think it was not being overwhelmed by the pressure of what a fan I am of the book or a fan I am of the story,” Wolff explained. “I think once I got to working on it there, it really was a joy, this character was. I had more fun playing this character than any I’ve ever played before. It was so extreme and I got to go out and you know, it was a really cathartic character to play. I had a real blast.”

The first episode of The Stand, “The End”, is now streaming on CBS All Access. New episodes arrive every Thursday. The second episode, “Pocket Savior”, debuts December 24th.