Stephen King‘s books have been adapted for many years, but these past few have been particularly great times for the author. This year has already boasted two exciting adaptations, with The Monkey and The Life of Chuck. The latter тιтle is already being touted as one of the best King adaptations in recent years.

The year will continue strong with the adaptation of The Long Walk. Originally published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, this is the first novel that the author actually wrote. After that comes an anticipated adaptation of The Running Man, directed by Edgar Wright.

While other exciting TV adaptations are coming up, including Welcome to Derry and Carrie, another King movie adaptation was just announced for the novel The Stand. Published in 1978, The Stand is a dark dystopian fantasy novel about a world that has been greatly affected by a weaponized flu pandemic.

The Stand movie will be developed by Paramount Pictures. Doug Liman will serve as its director, with producers including Liman and Tyler Thompson. While this will be an exciting chance for another interesting King novel to be made, there is one big issue with this potential adaptation.

The Stand Is Stephen King’s Longest Book

It Has Nearly 1,200 Pages

As of right now, The Stand is King’s longest book ever published. The book was actually published twice, but both versions are significant in length. Even the original 1978 version was 823 pages, but the author later restored and rewrote over 400 pages in 1990, making its eventual complete and uncut edition 1,152 pages.

King is unique as an author in that he can master writing in short stories and more extended forms. Some of his more exciting works, such as the Dark Tower series, are his longer novels. The Stand is a great example of how King can build and develop great characters over a more extended period.

The Stand Is Probably Too Long For A Single Movie

The Other Adaptations Have Been Miniseries

The Stand has been adapted twice before, but they were miniseries. The first was a four-episode series in 1994, which starred Molly Ringwald and Gary Sinise. The second was a more recent Paramount+ series from late 2020 and early 2021.

This version featured a cast including Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgård, James Marsden, Odessa Young, Owen Teague, Amber Heard, Gordon Courmier, and Jovan Adepo. This second adaptation ended up taking nine whole episodes to tell the story, which was even longer than the 1994 version.

The fact that previous adaptations of The Stand needed a minimum of four episodes to tell their story indicates that it is probably too long to be adapted into a single movie. Part of the book’s intrigue is how it develops its characters and the complex sociopolitical dynamics at hand over an extended period. A single movie could risk diluting this.

It is the second-longest of King’s movies. Both main adaptations of that story have been told in two parts. This and the fact that The Stand has previously had miniseries adaptations further prove that the overlong King novel may not be fit for just one movie.

How The Stand Movies Should Happen

There Should Be Three Movies

The only way to really make The Stand happen as a single movie is to cut some of the characters. This has already happened in the series to some extent. The 2020 version, for example, cut the character of Len. There are simply too many characters to have a single movie make any sense and not seem like a jumbled mess.

Alternatively, The Stand can be broken down into three movies. Making three installments would provide the best chance to still maintain the integrity of the original story, as it is structured into three main parts. This method would provide natural stopping and starting points in the story, rather than forcing The Stand into one movie.