Stephen King's 1978 post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel The Stand makes numerous connections to many of the horror master's other books. The plot of The Stand centers on a pandemic of a weaponized strain of the flu that kills almost the entire population across the globe. The story follows the few survivors of the flu, who unite in groups—often confronting each other—and create a new social system. The book features countless characters and several storylines, relying on the theme of good versus evil.
The Stand was adapted into a miniseries in 1994, starring Gary Sinise, Adam Store, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe, among other notable actors. Stephen King even had a small cameo in the series. 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 date for the new show.
King has published 61 novels—including those under the pen name Richard Bachman—and five non-fiction books. Several of his horror and fantasy novels are set in shared universes—The Stand among them. In fact, The Stand sees a large amount of connections to several other King works, whether they are full character inclusions or brief, obscure references.
The Man In Black
The Stand introduces the character Randall Flagg, one of King's most memorable and frequently recurring villains. Flagg is representation of evil and chaos, and goes by many names, including Walter o'Dim, "the dark man," and, most famously, "the man in black". Since his introduction in The Stand, Flagg has shown up in several other King books, especially across the eight installments of the Dark Tower series, as well as other books like The Eyes of the Dragon, Salem's Lot, and Children of the Corn, among others. In the 2017 film version of The Dark Tower, Matthew McConaughey took on the role of the man in black, who was going by the name of Walter Padick. Decades earlier, Jamey Sheridan portrayed him in the first TV adaptation of The Stand.
The Dark Tower
The Stand's connection to the Dark Tower series goes beyond the inclusion of the Randall Flagg character. At one point in the Dark Tower series' progress, the group stumbles across a supernatural door that takes them to a deserted town in a different time period. Newspapers there reveal there was a terrible plague, strongly suggesting it was the world that's the setting of The Stand. They also see the I-70 highway sign in Nebraska that the characters of The Stand also glimpsed.
The Stand could, theoretically, also be connected to the Dark Tower series in that it's one of the numerous universes and timelines that occur on earth. This theory could be far-fetched for some King fans, though; it relies on the logic that connecting stories to The Dark Tower world legitimize supernatural elements.
The Shop
A secret government agency called "The Shop" is often behind the chaos and terror 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 briefly appears again in Tommyknockers and The Lawnmower Man—and, of course, it supposedly is behind the spread of the pandemic in The Stand.
Ben Hanscom
Ben Hanscom is one of the most beloved characters from the 1986 King novel IT. When Ben is an adult, he is said to live in Hemingford Home, Nebraska. As it turns out, this is the same place Mother Abigail from The Stand resides.
IT was released after The Stand, and makes a brief allusion to it. At one point, Ben is talking to a bartender, who tells him he's looking ill. He mentions that there's "a hell of a lively bug going around", which potentially refers to the flu from The Stand.
Other Connections To The Stand In King's Universe
Some other connections between The Stand and other King works are so obscure that they're easy to miss—even for die-hard King fans. In The Stand, Stovington, Vermont is the setting where Stu Redman is kept at a hospital. That same town is where the Torrances in his 1977 novel, The Shining, resided—before Jack lost his job and The Overlook Hotel took away his sanity.
Some fans say that The Stand is even further connected to The Shining; the "Shine" could theoretically give characters immunity to the virus. This could explain how Danny Torrance survived the period of the flu and became Doctor Sleep.
The "ka-tet" concept—which King has used frequently in his books, even if the term is not used directly—is another thing that connects The Stand to other king works. "Ka" is a plot element that King first developed for the Dark Tower series. Ka is considered a guide or destination that manipulates both good and evil. "Ka-tet" is a group of beings brought together by "ka." This concept of humans being brought together is heavily used in The Stand, as well as IT, Desperation, Dreamcatcher, and other novels.
King will surely continue to weave his web of references throughout his future novels. Randall Flagg will likely keep showing up, and The Stand will therefore see even more connections to the author's other stories and universes.