New images from the new CBS All Access seriesThe Standare here and all my eyes can focus on is one very specific and good image of one of its stars,Alexander Skarsgård. I’m not sure if it was a conscious decision to have Mr. Skarsgård channel hisTrue Bloodcharacter, Eric Northman, but that is absolutely the energy being delivered from the actorplaying Randall Flagg, the big bad of this newStephen Kingadaptation.
Our first look at Skarsgård arrived with a slew of other new images fromThe Standon Monday courtesy ofVanity Fair. InThe Stand, Randall ascends to a leadership role as a large group of people who have survived the spread of a world-ending virus flock to his residence in Las Vegas looking for answers. Randall is a supernatural, charming, dark figure, as co-showrunnerTaylor Elmoredescribed him to VF:
“He’s so charming and he’s so handsome, and so powerful—I mean genuinely powerful, able to perform these sort of miracles where he could levitate himself and he has these actual powers. And yet he needs this adulation and this kind of worship from these people whom he’s summoned to him. He needs to have them make a show all the time of how grateful they are to him. […] Flagg is so beautiful, he is absolutely a lion-like God figure. With perfect hair and … and also, there’s a softness to Alex’s performance that I think is fascinating. Alex just plays it where you feel not only sympathy for this character, but you hopefully understand why it’s so easy for people to gravitate towards him. He’s just magnetic, he’s just absolutely fascinating to watch. He’s galvanizing as a leader.
The magazine premiered the images along with an in-depth preview of the CBS All Access show, which began production shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though production onThe Standis currently on hiatus, these new images will no doubt have you looking forward to watching the entire series. In addition to Skarsgård as Randall Flagg, Vanity Fair also gave us our first look atJovan Adepoas Larry Underwood,Heather Grahamas Rita Blakemoor,Owen Teagueas Harold Lauder,Odessa Youngas Frannie Goldsmith,Nat Wolffas Lloyd Henreid, andWhoopi Goldbergas Mother Abagail. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting to see get a peek at additional pivotal cast membersAmber Heard,James Marsden,Henry Zaga, andGreg Kinnear.
This CBS All Access adaptation will be the second time TheStandhas made its way to TV, with a 1994 mini-series starringGary SiniseandMolly Ringwaldpreceding. Unlike that first adaptation,The Standseems eerily even more timely than ever before. As co-showrunnerBenjamin Cavellexplained to VF, “It’s about the fundamental questions of what society owes the individual and what we owe to each other. Over the last however-many years, we have sort of taken for granted the structure of democracy. Now, so much of that is being ripped down to the studs. It’s interesting to see a story about people who are rebuilding it from the ground up.”
A premiere date has not been set for CBS All Access’The Standjust yet and will depend significantly on when production resume. You can take a look at some of the new images below and see additional images and read even Standover atVanity Fair.
