Stephen King’s epic apocalyptic horror ‘The Stand’ is slowly winding its way back to the screen. ‘The Stand’ is based on a novel released in 1978 that sees the world’s population decimated by a deadly virus known as “Captain Trips”. The survivors of the virus find themselves in a battle of good vs evil for the fate of mankind as they band together to face off against the demonic Randal Flagg.

Hollywood tried to turn ‘The Stand’ into a film in the 80s but they couldn’t find a way to tone down the vast scope of the film for a two-hour film. Instead, ‘The Stand’ was adapted into an 8-hour television mini-series based on an adapted script from King himself and directed by Mick Garris (‘Bag of Bones’).

Now WB has plans to bring ‘The Stand’ to the big screen again, and this time, it looks like it’s going to happen. After going through a series of false starts, including a rumor that director David Yates and writer Steve Kloves, the duo responsible for ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ were on board for the new version, it seems as if ‘The Stand’ is finally finding its footing. Actor/director Ben Affleck is now in the directors chair and will allegedly play the lead role of Stu, the hero that leads the surviving army against Randal Flagg.

Yesterday, Shock Til You Drop announced that Affleck had officially picked screenwriter David Kajganich to pen the new ‘Stand’. Kajganich is best known for his work on ‘Invasion’, the 2007 remake of ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ that starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Kajganich is also working on a remake of Stephen King’s ‘Pet Semetary’, which is tentatively set to release in 2013.

Kajganich has a daunting task ahead of him if Affleck actually expects ‘The Stand’ to be turned into a single film. ‘The Stand’ would be better suited as a trilogy since the novel is split into three distinct sections. Of course, ‘The Stand’ is not yet listed on IMDb so it may be split into multiple films yet.