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Stephen King ’s 1978 post - revelatory morose fancy novelThe Standmakes numerous connections to many of the repugnance superior ’s other leger . The plot ofThe Standcenters on a pandemic of a weaponize nervous strain of the influenza that shoot down almost the entire population across the globe . The account follows the few survivor of the grippe , who unite in chemical group — often confronting each other — and make a new societal system of rules . The Holy Writ feature countless characters and several storylines , relying on the theme of commodity versus wickedness .
The Standwas adapted into a miniseries in 1994 , starring Gary Sinise , Adam Store , Molly Ringwald , and Rob Lowe , among other notable actor . Stephen Kingeven had a pocket-size cameo in the serial publication . The novel was adapted into another miniseries in early 2020 , with James Marsden , Amber Heard , Whoopi Goldberg , and Greg Kinnear among the cast members . CBS All Access has set a December 2020 release datefor the young show .
King has published 61 novel — include those under the pen nameRichard Bachman — and five non - fiction books . Several of his horror and fantasy novel are set in shared universe of discourse — The Standamong them . In fact , The Standsees a large amount of connections to several other King works , whether they are full quality inclusion or brief , obscure references .
The Man In Black
The Standintroduces the case Randall Flagg , one of King ’s most memorable and often recurring villains . Flagg is representation of evil and chaos , andgoes by many names , including Walter o’Dim , " the grim man , " and , most famously , " the man in black " . Since his introduction inThe Stand , Flagg has shown up in several other King books , especially across the eight installment of theDark Towerseries , as well as other Bible likeThe Eyes of the Dragon , Salem ’s Lot , andChildren of the Corn , among others . In the 2017 motion-picture show version ofThe Dark Tower , Matthew McConaugheytook on the function of the serviceman in Shirley Temple , who was going by the name of Walter Padick . Decades earlier , Jamey Sheridan portray him in the first TV adaptation ofThe Stand .
The Dark Tower
The Stand’sconnection totheDark Towerseries goes beyond the inclusion of the Randall Flagg character . At one decimal point in theDark Towerseries ' procession , the group stumbles across a supernatural doorway that take them to a derelict town in a different time period . Newspapers there reveal there was a terrible plague , powerfully suggesting it was the world that ’s the setting ofThe Stand . They also see the I-70 highway signaling in Nebraska that the graphic symbol ofThe Standalso glimpse .
The Standcould , theoretically , also be unite totheDark Towerseries in that it ’s one of the legion universes and timeline that occur on earth . This theory could be far - fetched for some King fans , though ; it relies on the logic that connecting report toThe Dark Towerworld legalize supernatural elements .
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The Shop
Asecret government agency called " The Shop"is often behind the topsy-turvydom and threat in many of King ’s novels . For example , The Shop released the mist from the 1980 novel , The Mist , and experimented with Lot Six in the 1980 novel , Firestarter . The Shop concisely appears again inTommyknockersandThe Lawnmower Man — and , of course , it supposedly is behind the spread head of the pandemic inThe Stand .
Ben Hanscom
Ben Hanscomis one of the most dear fictitious character from the 1986 King novelIT.When Ben is an adult , he is said to hold up in Hemingford Home , Nebraska . As it twist out , this is the same place Mother Abigail fromThe Standresides .
ITwas relinquish afterThe Stand , and establish a brief allusion to it . At one level , Ben is talking to a bartender , who tell him he ’s looking badly . He mentions that there ’s " a perdition of a rattling bug going around " , which potentially refer to the influenza fromThe standpoint .
Other Connections To The Stand In King’s Universe
Some other connectedness betweenThe Standand other King works are so obscure that they ’re easy to miss — even for die - voiceless King fans . InThe Stand , Stovington , Vermont is the setting where Stu Redman is maintain at a hospital . That same town is where the Torrances in his 1977 novel , The Shining , reside — before Jack lost his job andThe Overlook Hoteltook away his sanity .
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Some fans say thatThe Standis even further connected to The Shining ; the " Shine " could theoretically give character immunity to the virus . This could excuse how Danny Torrance survived the period of the flu and becameDoctor Sleep .
The " ka - tet " construct — which King has used oftentimes in his books , even if the terminus is not used directly — is another matter that connectsThe Standto other Billie Jean Moffitt King works . " Ka " is a plot element that King first developed for theDark Towerseries . Ka is considered a template or destination that manipulates both honest and wickedness . " Ka - tet " is a group of beings bring together by " ka . " This conception of man being brought together is heavily used inThe Stand , as well asIT , Desperation , Dreamcatcher , and other novels .
King will for certain continue to weave his web of references throughout his future novel . Randall Flagg will likely keep demonstrate up , andThe Standwill therefore see even more connections to the author ’s other chronicle and universes .
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