Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
JAMES MARSDEN
The X-Men, Westworld and Enchanted star, 47, takes on the fate of humanity as Stu Redman in The Stand (Dec. 17 on CBS All Access). The limited series, which also stars Whoopi Goldberg and Jovan Adepo, revisits Stephen King’s apocalyptic story of a world devastated by a plague that wipes out 90 percent of the population and then plunges survivors into a life-and-death struggle between good and evil. Why a series about a plague during the COVID-19 pandemic? The book is over 40 years old and it’s one of Stephen’s greatest hits. We had not planned for COVID this year. Once you get into the show, it becomes less about a pandemic and more about what happens to humanity afterwards. Who is Stu Redman? Stu is basically an ordinary man from a small town in East Texas, a blue-collar worker. He’s thrust into the middle of this plague and, inexplicably, he’s immune to the virus. He doesn’t speak much, but when he does, there’s real purpose behind it. These types of people with moral integrity—that do the right thing even when no one’s looking—need to be celebrated more. Word is there’s a new ending to the story, written by Stephen King himself. We’re trying to stay as faithful to [the book] as possible, but we have a really special treat in that Stephen King wrote the ninth episode, which is a coda to his book. Is there going to be a sequel to Disney’s Enchanted, in which you played Prince Edward? I’ve heard they’re trying to work on a script. It does look a little more optimistic than five years ago.