‘The Stand’: Josh Boone’s Long-Gestating Stephen King Remake Might Be Going Back to Miniseries Roots — Report
It’s the remake that just won’t die. Over the years, a large-scale reimagining of Stephen King‘s epic “The Stand” has cycled through directors like David Yates, Ben Affleck, and Scott Cooper, before finally landing on “The Fault in Our Stars” director Josh Boone way, way back in 2014. In the four years since Boone, an admittedly huge King fan (and one who has also being rumored to adapt other King works, including “Revival” and “Lisey’s Story”), was attached to the project, it’s continued to evolve in some very different ways. That’s still happening.
The Tracking Board reports that Boone, who is currently working on his (rumored-to-be-beleagured) “New Mutants” movie is still attached to direct the project, which might now be “coming together as a ten-hour limited series at CBS All Access.” It’s just another big change in a sea of them, though it’s one that would — weirdly enough — return the beloved King novel to the roots of its other large-scale adaptation, an ABC miniseries that aired back in 1994.
Back in 2014, Boone promised Vulture the kind of massive, hard-charging treatment fans wanted, telling the outlet, “We’re gonna do one three-hour, R-rated version with an amazing A-list cast across the board. Every single one of those characters will be somebody you recognize and somebody you relate to. And it’s gonna be awesome. I’m really excited. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever got to do in my entire life.”
By that November, Boone’s vision had become one of a massive, four-film series. At the time, he hit Kevin Smith’s Hollywood Babble-On podcast to chat about the increasing scope, explaining, “I think we are going to do like four movies. I can’t tell you anything about how we’re going to do them, or what’s going to be in which movie. I’ll just say we are going to do four movies, and we’re going to do ‘The Stand’ at the highest level you can do it at, with a cast that’s going to blow people’s minds. We’ve already been talking to lots of people, and have people on board in certain roles that people don’t know about. We’re looking to go into production next year, maybe in the spring.”
In June of 2015, Boone’s big idea had morphed again, as The Wrap reported that while the project was back down to a single R-rated feature film, it was one that would be supplemented with an eight-part miniseries on Showtime.
It seems that Boone’s busy schedule has repeatedly kept him from starting production on the long-gestating passion project, and this news of its latest potential incarnation is the most compelling update we’ve heard in actual years. When the sprawling epic was first adapted for the small screen, it took shape as a four-episode series that cost nearly $30 million.
IndieWire has reached out to CBS All Access and Boone’s representatives for comment and will update this story if they respond.
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