Alexander Skarsgård is Randall Flagg in The Stand, Plus Additional Casting Details

Whoopi Goldberg has also been confirmed to be taking on the key role of Mother Abagail.

By Chris Morse

The Dark Man, Randall Flagg, has officially been cast for CBS All Access' upcoming The Stand limited series, with award-winning actor Alexander Skarsgård (Big Little Lies) set to take on the role. This report comes via Collider on the heels of Stephen King’s morning appearance on The View, which brought with it several other casting announcements, including confirmation that Whoopi Goldberg will indeed play Mother Abagail as it was originally reported she was in talks for.

Also being welcomed to the upcoming series is Jovan Adepo (When They See Us) as Larry Underwood, Owen Teague (Mrs. Fletcher) as Harold Lauder, Brad William Henke (Orange is the New Black) as Tom Cullen, and Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me) as Cobb. With these additions, the majority of the main characters should be set, give or take a few roles still in negotiation.

The new cast members are joining previously-announced stars James Marsden (Westworld) as Stu Redman, Amber Heard (Aquaman) as Nadine Cross, Odessa Young (Assassination Nation) as Frannie Goldsmith, and Henry Zaga (The New Mutants) as Nick Andros. Musician Marilyn Mansion had previously stated that he will have a role in the series as well.

Including the above confirmed cast, we previously heard that Greg Kinnear (As Good as it Gets) was in negotiations for the role of Glen Bateman, but the star has not been officially confirmed for the series at this time, nor has he been ruled out yet either.

The Stand, the 1,152-page novel published in 1978, is Stephen King’s ultimate portrayal of the forces of good against evil after an apocalyptic pandemic consumes the majority of the world’s population, leaving only a few thousand survivors to either claim allegiance to the “Dark Man” in Las Vegas, Nevada, or follow the path of God to Boulder, Colorado with the fate of mankind hanging in the balance.

The bestseller went on to be nominated for the 1979 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and was later adapted into an ABC television miniseries event in 1994. The eight-hour, four-part miniseries was penned by King himself and starred Academy Award nominee Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe. The book was also adapted into a Marvel comic series that ran from 2008 to 2012, which was written by Chilling Adventures of Sabrina's Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with art by Mike Perkins and Laura Martin.

The upcoming 10-episode limited series for The Stand will be written by Josh Boone and Ben Cavell, with Boone also directing, for CBS Television Studios. The pair are also listed as executive producers, along with Roy Lee, Jimmy Miller, Richard P. Rubinstein, Will Weiske, and Miri Yoon. Stephen King's son, Owen King, is attached to the project as a producer as well.

CBS All Access' The Stand is still in early development and thus does not yet have any kind of release date. However, you can stay up to date with all the latest right here on Dead Entertainment.

About the Author

Chris Morse

Programmer by day, writer by night. Having grown up surrounded by plenty of horror movies and video games, it only made sense for Chris to combine all of these passions into one place: Dead Entertainment. Whether he's working on designs, tinkering with the platform, or just writing up the latest horror news, he's sure to be hard at work keeping the wheels turning on this website no matter what time of day it is. When not coding or gaming, you can find him donning a Cheesehead and heading to the Midwest to cheer on his favorite NFL team, the Green Bay Packers. #GoPackGo