Hollywood's Most Unfilmable Stephen King Novel Is Getting Butchered Again

Yes, again. Just five years after the last attempt (a 2020 miniseries that came and went with a shrug), Paramount has decided to give it another go. But this time, it won't be a series. It's going to be a single movie. One film. For a 1,152-page apocalypse epic. Bold.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, Road House) is directing, with producer Tyler Thompson (American Made) on board. And no — there are no plans for multiple movies. It's one and done, with what's being called a "particular take." That's code for "we're slicing this thing down to the bone."

For anyone unfamiliar, The Stand is King's massive end-of-the-world saga about a mysterious virus called Captain Trips wiping out most of humanity, followed by a supernatural showdown between good and evil led by Mother Abagail and Randall Flagg. It's part pandemic thriller, part metaphysical battle royale. It's also the size of a phone book, and even King had to cut 400 pages to get it published in 1978. (He later put them all back, because of course he did.)

Both previous adaptations — a 1994 ABC miniseries and the 2020 Paramount+ version — were multi-episode efforts that still left out a lot. So the idea of cramming the entire thing into a two-hour runtime? That's either wildly ambitious or a prelude to Dark Tower 2017 levels of disaster.

Best guess: they're not doing the full book. Maybe it'll focus on just one thread — a character arc, a side plot, something self-contained. Because trying to fit the entire story in would mean speedrunning a virus outbreak, cross-country pilgrimages, mass hallucinations, Boulder Free Zone politics, psychic children, nuclear bombs, and actual Satan.

Also worth noting: King has just authorized a collection of new short stories set in The Stand universe, coming in August — the first time he's ever let other writers play in that sandbox. So clearly The Stand is back in the studio rotation, whether we want it or not.

There's no release date yet, and the project's still early in development, so don't expect a trailer anytime soon. But if you're keeping score, that's three Stand adaptations in 30 years — and not one of them has gotten it quite right.

Will this be the one? Probably not. But hey, fourth time's the charm.