The Stand is a remake of the original 1997 mini series and is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, it was released on CBS in 2020 and was also available for streaming on Paramount Plus and later on Starz.
The plot is very similar to the 1997 series but does have some differences which I will cover later on, check out my review of the 1997 version here as that will cover most of the plot points, here I’m going to mostly be covering new casing choices and the biggest differences before giving my overall opinion of which series I preferred.
Lets with our two main characters the guiding light which is Mother Abigail and the bringer of Darkness Randall Flagg.
Whoopi Goldberg plays Mother Abigail in this version and does a great job of portraying the kind and gentle old woman who leads our heroes to bring an end to Flagg and his master plan. This version of the character while still religious plays much more on her personality and mothering presence instead of focusing more on her Christianity background and connection with God. Whoopi was great in this and she such a legacy actress and is extremely talented but I just don’t like her as much as Ruby Dee. I loved her guitar singing and her high religious values that showed that she was always connecting with god, she came across as an angel sent from heaven to guide our heroes and this is something I personally do not feel with Whoopi’s version of the character.
Randall Flagg is now played by Alexander Skarsgård who is amazing in this role, he makes this character extremely threatening and most importantly scary. This guy means serious business and he is not afraid to slaughter anyone who crosses him or gets in his way, he is powerful and considered to be Satan himself, there is very few goofy scenes with his version and I think this portrayal works better for Flaggs character compared to the 1997 version.
Stu Redman a very important character in both the mini series and the book is this time played by James Marsden and to be honest not a big fan of his performance, its fine but its not as memorable as Gary Sinisi in the original.
Another disappointing portrayal is Harold Lauder this time played by Owen Teague in the 1997 series this character was a love struck teenager who finally snaps after Frannie sleeps with Stu, in the new version from the get go he is a stalker and a creep, he is still a loser but because he doesn’t start off as a nice kid its hard to have any sympathy for him and his eventual betrayal of the heroes is much less of a shock because of this.
The rest of cast didn’t stand out to me but were ok, some major differences worth mentioning though would be Nick now sporting an eye patch, Tom is now less dim minded and a little less controversial and the character of Ralph has been replaced with with a female character named Ray.
Where the original series was corny and had elaborate sets they never did much in regards to the virus, this version takes a more realistic route by adding more special effects and make up to the victims of the virus, bloating the necks and having this really gross pus like substance leaking from every orifice.
Realism was also brought to the sets which now are fairly standard apocalyptic towns and deserted streets, while I appreciate the direction they were going with this I much prefer how the originals series had much more creative and memorable cinematography with the more fantasy driven designs and back drops.
Music was taken to a whole level in this version using various artists songs to help emphasise how barren and secluded this new world is, these tracks were best used during the closing credits with each of the 9 episodes having a unique track chosen which tied into the events that had transpired.
The soundtrack in its entirety can be listened too on Spotify, I will leave a link at the bottom of this article.
Overall my views on The Stand 2020 is that the series as a whole is very good, it took what the 1994 version did but extended on character back stories and made the cast more diverse by adding African Americans, foreign actors and making the character of Tom less controversial by todays standards, while I still prefer the original series this one is more easily accessible to find on streaming services and is well worth a watch.
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