10 Stephen King Remakes, Ranked

The 1994 mini-series adaptation of King’s much-loved 1978 dark fantasy novel about a devastating global pandemic made some choices that haven’t aged all that well, but on the whole it remains enjoyable, with standout performances from Jamey Sheridan (as Randall Flagg, an evil vision in his denim-on-denim outfits) and Matt Frewer (as fringe character Trashcan Man), among others. The 2020 CBS All Access (now Paramount+) miniseries—which had the unfortunate/eerie luck to be released in December 2020, at the height of an actual, real-world pandemic—boasted a stellar cast (Whoopi Goldberg, Greg Kinnear, James Marsters, Nat Wolff, Alexander Skarsgård), but its nine episodes felt oddly paced, like there was both too much and yet not enough space to tell King’s sprawling ensemble story. Even worse, the much-hyped “new ending,” written by King himself, felt both unmemorable and unnecessary.