'The Stand': Tarun Keram who plays Steve says he 'may be the life of the party' in the episodes to come
Six episodes in, the CBS All Access limited series, ‘The Stand’, based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name, is inching towards its end. With just three episodes left, the story has reached a chilling turn. Last we saw, Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård) had managed to recruit someone who is arguably the most dangerous person in the story -- the Trashcan Man (Ezra Miller), a deranged pyromaniac. We also saw Harold (Owen Teague) and Nadine (Amber Heard) cause an explosion that definitely kills Nick (Henry Zaga) and will at least injure Stu (James Marsden) and Frannie (Odessa Young).
With the story reaching its end, Tarun Keram, who plays Steve on ‘The Stand’, spoke about his character and the show in an exclusive interview with MEAWW.
Keram, speaking about the adaptation, and the oft-demanded authenticity and loyalty to the canon, said, “I think there's so much weight on trying to get the story right. There have been two versions of the book and I'd like to think this is the third since he helped write one of the episodes.” He added, however, “I can say that this series so far really captures the feel of the book. Josh Boone (the show’s creator) has been trying to make this project happen for years and any Stephen King adaptation is best left in the hands of someone who is passionate about his work!”
Outside ‘The Stand’, Keram has had experience with cosmic horror and science fiction -- ‘The Twilight Zone’ and ‘Supernatural’. He said that ‘Supernatural’, especially the episode he appeared on, had a similar feel to ‘The Stand’. “The episode I was in for Supernatural just happened to be in a post-apocalyptic world! Instead of a virus, it was an Archangel that killed my friends and family!” he said.
Talking about Steve, his character, he said “I think we've seen it in real life. The front line workers are in the trenches with Covid and the same goes for 'The Stand'.” While Steve is not one of the main characters, Keram teased bigger things to come for the character. “I had a little appearance in the third episode with Olivia Cheng (who plays Dr. Sylvia Wen on the show) and Odessa Young (who plays Frannie). Later on, you'll see that I may be the life of the party!” He added that Cheng was his favorite co-star “hands down”. As per Keram, she is “the hardest working person I know and lucky to call Olivia a good friend.”
Just like ‘The Stand’ has Captain Trips, the real world has witnessed the coronavirus pandemic, arguably the biggest medical catastrophe the world has witnessed in this lifetime. The pandemic has been tough on actors, especially with productions coming to a halt for months last year. “It's been so tough for a lot of us. I managed to film the last episode of ‘Helstrom’ before everything shut down. It never got renewed, but not sure if that had to do with the pandemic or not. Other than that we've been pretty lucky in Vancouver with keeping productions going with strict Covid health guidelines.”
He added, about ‘The Stand’, “We were lucky because we finished everything 2 weeks before Covid shut everything down. The only difficult part I'd say was the post-production. The cast around the world had been sent headphones and mics to add some additional dialogue if a scene needed it.”
Aside from ‘The Stand’, Keram has just finished filming for an episode of ‘Debris’ on NBC. The show follows a secretive international agency, tasked with investigating mysterious wreckage falling from the sky. British agent Finola Jones (Riann Steele) and American agent Bryan Beneventi (Jonathan Tucker) have no choice but to trust each other as they track down the debris scattered across the Western Hemisphere. Keram also stars in the film ‘The Right One’ set to release on February 5.
‘The Stand’ Episode 7 ‘The Walk’, will release on January 28, 2021, only on CBS All Access. The drop time is at midnight PT / 1 am MT / 2 am CT / 3 am ET. However, there's no set time to tune in. You can watch it whenever you want after its premiere on the streaming service.