If you missed my last Would Andie Watch It article on Warrior Nun, it can be found here.
Hi everyone! It has been a minute since I have done a “Would Andie Watch It” article. My last one was on Warrior Nun, and it was pretty good. Today’s look is at The Stand, the new one from 2020. I have watched the original and loved it. I will be doing a comparison article between the two Stands, so don’t worry. Enough about that, let’s get into today’s query, would I watch the new Stand?
Before I go any further, I do realize I am a little late to the game. This was made in 2020, and it’s 2023, why did it take so long? The answer, I just got access, it was one of the first things I wanted to watch. You can find it on Paramount+, along with Wild N’ Out and a bunch of other nostalgic shows.
Obviously, the old cast did not make this one, so we got all new people, let me tell you about everyone new. Whoopi Goldberg was Mother Abagail, and Alexander Skarsgard was Randall Flagg. James Marsden played Stu Redman, and Odessa Young was Frannie. Jovan Adepo was Larry Underwood. Owen Teague was Harold Lauder, Brad William Henke played Tom Cullen, and Henrique Zaga played Nick Andros. The infamous Amber Heard was Nadine Cross, and Ezra Miller was Trashcan Man.
If you have never seen The Stand, let me tell you about a classic. Captain Trip’s disease was created in a lab, and an escaping security guard let the disease into the world. It decimates the world’s population. There are people with natural immunity who survived the pandemic, but the majority of the world was dead. It was sudden, and the disease caused a painful death, thankfully, people who got sick died pretty quickly. Writing that out seems wrong, but I figure a quick death looked better than that of a slow death.
The two main places in the story are Boulder, Colorado, and New Vegas (it’s Las Vegas). Mother Abagail resides in Boulder and is the “good” side, and Flagg resides in Vegas and is the “evil” one. The main characters and many of the others who survived dreamed of one or both of them. A lot of people fell into one of the two camps. Stu, Nick, Frannie, Larry, Nick, and Tom all dreamed of and followed Mother Abagail. Nadine and Harold both dreamed of Flagg but ended up in Colorado.
Harold and Nadine landed in Colorado because of who they were with and where they were going. Harold had been in love with Frannie for a while before the pandemic and figured she would finally be his because of all the death. So they started on a trip to the central CDC hub in the country but ended up going to Colorado. Frannie falls in love with Stu, and it breaks something in Harold, and he ends up following Flagg.
Nadine travels with a boy she found named Joe, played by Gordon Cormier, when she comes across Larry, who is having his own struggles. He dreamed of both Mother Abagail and Flagg but landed in Colorado. Nadine, who has been dreaming of Flagg since being a little girl, followed Larry to Colorado. Both Nadine and Harold tried to be good. They struggled against their anger and the call of Flagg until they both couldn’t handle it anymore. Spies were sent on both sides, and war between the two camps was imminent.
This is so hard to write. I am so excited about this and want to talk about everything, but that will have to wait until my next article. There are so many differences and similarities. If you have watched the first, this is a retelling of the same story. This one has scenes that are taken out from the first, but it does add new scenes with more backstories.
All in all, I like this retelling. I can say there are scenes I really missed. I was excited to see one particular part to be retold and was seriously disappointed it wasn’t in there. For me, because I have seen the first one, I was confused at some points because the story was just a touch different. There are things that are certainly improved upon, so it is better in that way. The length is different too. The first was five hours and change, this one is nine hours and change, so you can still get through it in a day, but you will need to clear more of your schedule.
The Stand 2020 is on Paramount+, as I said. If you are looking for the original, it can be found on Vudu for $4.99. I am buying it on payday, so I can watch it and bring you the next article. The Stand 2020 is worth the watch whether you have seen the original or not. Have you watched either one? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
