The Stand: How “The Walk” Differs from Stephen King’s Book

The seventh episode of The Stand arrived on CBS All Access on Thursday with “The Walk” seeing the aftermath of both the bomb and Mother Abagail’s (Whoopi Goldberg) return as well as, as the title of the episode suggests, the departure of Stu Redman (James Marsden), Glen Bateman (Greg Kinnear), Ray Brentner (Irene Bedard), and Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo) for Vegas on foot. While this episode was largely a travel montage as the group made their way to face the Dark Man, there were some major plot points. With next week being the penultimate episode of the limited series, there were some big developments this week — but they came with some critical differences from Stephen King’s novel, and we’re breaking them down.

Warning: spoilers ahead for the seventh episode of The Stand, “The Walk”, below, If you haven’t seen the episode or are unfamiliar with King’s novel, now would be a good time to turn back.

This week’s episode saw Mother Abagail instruct Stu, Glen, Ray, and Larry to go to Vegas to make their stand against Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard) while it also saw Nadine (Amber Cross) and Harold (Owen Teague) escape Boulder to head that same way — with the former finally fulfilling her destiny to become Flagg’s bride. We even touch base briefly with Trashcan Man (Ezra Miller).

What’s interesting about this episode is that generally speaking, most of what happens in the episode comes right from the book. Mother Abagail sends the foursome off in just the clothes they stand in and they have a long journey with only three of them making it to Vegas. Harold doesn’t make it to Vegas at all, and Nadine does consummate her relationship with Flagg to horrific results. However, while the general events line up with King’s novel, some details shift and one, in particular, that could have major significance as we head into the series’ end.

So, how did the series change things up as compared to the book in “The Walk”? Read on for the biggest changes we spotted, but keep in mind that this adaptation of The Stand is based upon The Complete and Uncut Edition of the book so that’s the baseline we’re using for our comparison.

Trashcan Man and the Nuke

This difference kind of goes along with a difference noted in last week’s episode, “The Vigil”, and that is regarding the nuke. In the episode, viewers see Trashy excitedly working on taking the nuclear warhead he finds in the desert apart so that he can haul the critical component to the surface and onto his vehicle to presumably take back to Flagg. We even see how radioactive it is, thanks to the Geiger counter Trashy has with him.

This is similar to the book in that Trashy does locate and haul up a nuclear warhead that is leaching radiation at an alarming rate. That does happen in the book. However, as we noted last week, this version of events entirely wipes away the real reason Trashy is going after the weapon. There’s no indication that Flagg ever had pilots and weapons ready to carry out an air raid on Boulder as was his plan in the book and it’s clear in the scene that Trashy isn’t getting the bomb as an apology to Flagg — which is a major departure.

Mother Abagail’s Death

Just as in the book, Mother Abagail dies after her return from the wilderness, but it happens just a bit differently in the episode. In the episode, the surviving Boulder Freezone Committee gathers around her bedside where she delivers the message from God — including that everyone except Frannie (Odessa Young) will be going to Vegas — and promptly dies.

In the book, there are some supernatural elements that the episode does not incorporate, but most significantly, Mother Abagail actually survives the night after delivering her message and, instead, dies the next morning. It’s a subtle shift, but a shift just the same.

Nadine and Harold’s Escape from Boulder

Another scene that comes nearly straight from the book, but is changed just enough that it still feels like a major shift is Nadine and Harold’s escape from Boulder — specifically Harold’s death. Just as in the book, the pair are riding motorcycles to Vegas when Harold loses control of his bike, crashes, and is severely injured and left to die by Nadine after she refuses to help him. Harold ends up killing himself after writing a suicide note that takes responsibility for his actions.

In the episode, however, Nadine takes a much more sinister role in Harold’s death. While in the book it’s presented as though Harold’s accident is of supernatural origin, in the episode it is clearly of Nadine’s design. She races her motorcycle ahead of his and then slams on her brakes just before a dangerous curve, causing Harold to be distracted long enough to end up crashing. She still leaves him to die but is much colder about it. 

Also of note, there is a subtle shift in how Harold’s remains are found. In the book, Stu removes the gun from Harold’s mouth and wants to avenge Harold but in the episode, Larry finds the note and covers Harold’s body while the others continue to see Harold as evil rather than another victim of Flagg.

Nadine and Flagg

This week’s episode also sees Nadine and Flagg consummate their relationship, but there are quite a few little details that are different. In the book, Flagg enters Nadine before she leaves Boulder, supernaturally having his way with her after she places the bomb. The encounter leaves Nadine’s hair completely white and, later, they come together physically during Nadine’s journey to Vegas in a brutal scene that sees Nadine realize too late who she is really dealing with. In the book, when Flagg physically has sex with her in the desert, he not only impregnates her, but she sees his true, demonic face. It drives her insane and leaves her mostly catatonic.

The episode sort of mashes both encounters up a bit, yet changes the result for Nadine. In the episode, Nadine encounters Flagg in the desert after leaving Harold and they do have sex — complete with what appears to be the illusion of Flagg bringing her to Vegas while they’re actually still in the desert. It’s passionate at first, but then Nadine begins to realize something’s wrong and sees his demon face. After we see Nadine emerge from the experience with her hair now completely white and her entire appearance changed with brighter makeup and a lacy, sexy white dress. She doesn’t appear to be catatonic or especially “insane”, but we’ll get to the psychological impact of the experience in just a bit.

Larry, Glen, and Ray’s Arrival in Vegas

Another scene very similar to the book, but changed just enough to update things is how Larry, Glen, and Ray end up in Vegas. In the book, Flagg sends men to collect the trio on their walk before they arrive. This does happen in the episode, but it’s not just a random Flagg henchman who does the collecting. In the episode, Lloyd (Nat Wolff) collects the trio personally in a fancy stretch limo, something that in a way feels even more sinister.

Nadine in Vegas

Perhaps the biggest shift in the story as presented in the episode this week is Nadine’s time in Vegas. In the book, Nadine is dead long before Larry, Glen, and Ray arrive in the city after, in a brief moment of clarity, having goaded Flagg into murdering her six chapters before the trio shows up. In the episode, Flagg sends Nadine down to greet their “guests”. It’s that greeting where we get the first inkling that Nadine may not be okay. While we see her all glammed up and glowing — and it’s shown that this is how she sees herself in reflections — the last moments of the episode reveal that Nadine is hugely pregnant but also gaunt and sickly, her hair white but frazzled, her eyes hollow while she is oblivious to anything wrong.

A few stray things

This deep into the series there are a few things that we haven’t covered that happened in the book but didn’t happen in the series.

First, in the book, we learn soon after arrival in Boulder that Joe’s real name is Leo. That does not happen in the series. Also, in the book when Larry leaves he’s left in Lucy Swan’s care. With no Lucy in the series, it appears he’s left in Frannie’s care.

Second, the crucifixions in Vegas are a bit more significant in the book. Trashy actually assists in one soon after he arrives in the city. In the series, while they’re teased early on when the stranger arrives in Boulder from Vegas with crucifixion marks, our first real confirmation of the brutal execution technique is this week when we see people crucified all along the Strip as you enter Vegas.

Third, in the book, there are some odd supernatural or fantastical elements, such as Tom Cullen having full control of his faculties while under hypnosis and being visited by Nick Andros’ ghost in dreams. Thus far, none of those things have happened in the series so it will be interesting to see how the series ends up dealing with Nick’s death, given the bond he and Tom shared and how important Nick’s spiritual guidance is in getting Tom and Stu back to Boulder.