Ten days out from the premiere of The Stand on CBS All Access, some new photos from the limited event series and choice quotes from the cast and crew have made their way online and they might make your head spin. While speaking with EW in a new interview, co-star Nat Wolff spoke about the odd similarities between the series itself and the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, saying: “I got spooked. Suddenly everybody was saying, ‘Oh, [COVID -19] is just like the flu’ [like in the show], and I’m reading about prisoners in Italy lighting toilet paper on fire to get attention – I had just shot a scene where I was doing that. I went into panic mode.”
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The topic of Alexander Skarsgård’s big bad Randall Flagg was also brought up by many with co-star Fiona Dourif describing him as “sort of sexy Trump.” Showrunner Benjamin Cavell opened up about their interpretation of the character as well, adding: “We fell in love with the idea that Flagg would want to essentially block out any logos – and Vegas is obviously a place with a lot of logos – but that he would want to block out any branding that’s not him with a Flagg symbol.”
Skarsgård’s take on the character was described as “calm and quiet,” which surprised the producers with Cavell adding: “He’s able to be so still and quiet, which was a brilliant choice and not what any of us expected.” Wolff added, that his 6’4″ co-star “uses every ounce of his gigantic Swedish beauty.”
Naturally, Skarsgård himself also spoke about his character, saying: “Flagg’s such a formidable opponent, I decided to focus on his vulnerability. He needs adulation and accolades from his sycophants, and that fuels his ego. That’s interesting because he shouldn’t care about tiny humans at all but still craves their devotion.”
The Stand stars Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abagail and Alexander Skarsgard as Randall Flag, aka the Dark Man. The cast for the series also includes James Marsden as Stu Redman, Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith, Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood, Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, Henry Zaga as Nick Andros, Brad William Henke as Tom Cullen, Irene Bedard as Ray Bretner, Nat Wolff as Lloyd Henreid, Eion Bailey as Weizak, Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor, Katherine McNamara as Julie Lawry, Fiona Dourif as Ratwoman, Natalie Martinez as Dayna Jurgens, Hamish Linklater as Dr. Jim Ellis, Daniel Sunjata as Cobb, and Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman.
The Stand is set to premiere on Thursday, December 17. New episodes will premiere weekly exclusively for CBS All Access subscribers.
