CBS All Access takes ‘The Stand’ by remaking Stephen King saga

The Stand, xx p.m. Thursday, CBS All Access

Many people clearly feel the chilling work of Stephen King is worth revisiting.

Relatively soon after movie remakes of “It” and “Pet Sematary,” the saga widely considered the iconic author’s masterpiece is getting another screen run. The source of a 1994 miniseries, “The Stand” gets a fresh treatment that CBS All Access begins streaming weekly on Thursday. Whoopi Goldberg heads a large ensemble cast as Mother Abagail, one of the flu-pandemic survivors who band together to battle the powerful, lethal “Dark Man” (Alexander Skarsgard) for the fate of the world.

King has written a new coda for this version, part of the l ure for Greg Kinnear, who returns to television to play another of those embroiled in an epic fight between forces of good and evil. The “As Good As It Gets” Oscar nominee and former “Talk Soup” and “Later” host recalls “The Stand” was the first of many King works he’s read, making “an i ndelible i mpression ... dark, Gothic and unexpected. And it’s just a great adventure.

“I’ve thought often about why it’s stood the test of time,” Kinnear reflects, “and why its legion of fans is as strong as it is. I think there’s just a tone to that book that is very hard to capture. It knows what it is, and it’s got some very clear through lines and interesting assessments of good vs. evil. I never thought I would end up in a filmed version of it, but it’s a great thrill.”

Partially directed by Josh Boone — with whom Kinnear made the 2012 movie “Stuck in Love” — “The Stand” also features James Marsden, Amber Heard, Odessa Young, Henry Zaga, Owen Teague (“Bloodline”), Heather Graham, Hamish Linklater (“Legion”), Katherine McNamara (“Shadowhunters”), Daniel Sunjata, Natalie Martinez, (“Kingdom”) and Clifton Collins Jr.

“I worked with just about everybody,” Kinnear notes, who describes his “The Stand” character Glen Bateman as a “weed-smoking, banjo-philosophyspouting guy. In that character, I think Stephen captured someone who’s searching, but who also has this great skepticism. He’s at peace with the end of the world, and that makes him kind of a romantic character. And fun to play.”

Filming of “The Stand” was winding down in Vancouver as the coronavirus pandemic was ramping up. “It wasn’t until I was already home that the NBA started shutting down and all the big moves started to happen,” Kinnear says, “but even prior to that, I was reading a few little excerpts about this strange thing in China. It wasn’t getting much attention, but it was out there.

“I mean, what are the odds?,” Kinnear concludes. “Over many years of working, I’ve made nothing about a pandemic except when there was a pandemic.”