Of all the colorful characters that rise from the ashes of the apocalypse in Stephen King's acclaimed novel The Stand, none are perhaps more unique than Nick Andros and Tom Cullen, portrayed in the CBS All Access miniseries adaptation of the story by Henry Zaga and Brad William Henke, respectively. With Nick as a deaf man who can only communicate through sign language and writing while Tom is developmentally challenged, the pair form a tight bond as they travel across the country together to join Mother Abigail's community of survivors in Boulder, Colorado.
In a roundtable interview attended by CBR, Zaga and Henke talked about their immediate on-screen chemistry, preparing extensively to portray the two characters and their love of the source material.
For Zaga, his introduction into Stephen King began during production on The New Mutants, with the feature film helmed by The Stand co-showrunner Josh Boone, a self-professed King fanatic. Deciding to read The Stand as his first King novel entirely of his own volition during filming the Fox movie, Zaga was surprised to learn an adaptation of the book was Boone's next major project.
"I didn't know how crazy about Stephen King Josh was and I knew Josh pretty well at that point," Zaga recalled. "He was like 'Why are you reading The Stand?' and I was like, 'It's meant to be a great book, it's his biggest in size, so why not?' and he was like 'That's my favorite book of all time, it's why I became a writer and I'm making that next.' And he just told me his beautiful story about his family was very religious and against [King's] books and he wrote Mr. King, who sent him a beautiful box of books and notes of how to read them in order."
Nick and Tom's friendship serves as one of the big emotional cores of the story, with the two relying on each other to overcome their disabilities and navigate the post-apocalyptic vision of America to reach a community of survivors in Boulder, Colorado. To help capture the authenticity of their characters' first meeting, Henke insisted that he not meet with Zaga on set until the two filmed their first scene together, to which Zaga agreed.
"I was working so hard on Nick and he was working so hard on Tom, it was just so seamless," Zaga observed about their on-screen chemistry. "I didn't know about Brad's personality and how easygoing he was and how generous he would be with me but it was seamless. We can really communicate with expressions and gestures and it was a beautiful thing to see and feel as an actor, just how one character can link to another without ever meeting. It's a testament to Josh and [co-showrunner Ben Cavell] how they envisioned this show and also to Brad how hard [he] worked on this character right in front of me."
"We did a lot of work on our own so we'd know how to respond to things and how certain things would affect us but then, when we were acting, it was kind of like a situation like dating," Henke added. "You just fit, it was easy for us to work together just at once...I think we just rose with each other."
Zaga felt that if the chemistry hadn't been there from their first meeting, their performances would likely not have succeeded as the characters are so reliant on one another throughout the story and communicate with each other so uniquely.
"The same way Tom sees in Nick a lot of things people don't see, Nick sees the potential in Tom that a lot of people underestimate," Zaga observed as Henke called working with Zaga the best acting experience of his "entire life."
In response to a question from CBR, Zaga and Henke revealed the extensive steps they took to develop their characters' voices for the adaptation, from Nick relying on American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate while Henke looked at real-world inspiration to portray Tom's developmental disability.
"I went through hardcore ASL learning and deaf culture immersion as much as possible and I have wonderful deaf friends who are so open-hearted to just guide me," Zaga shared. "I didn't understand the many intricacies on a daily basis. How do you order coffee if the barista doesn't know Sign? Write a note on your phone? It was more the lack of empathy that I needed to live through to understand Nick's voice. It came from a different place because he's been underestimated for so long and he never lost the ability to forgive or be kind to other people which is, ultimately, how Mother Abigail picked him."
"I found a thing online of someone I went to high school who received a brain injury while he was in college and I learned how he spoke and I sent an email if I could use his voice though I never heard back," Henke admitted. After the costume designer reminded Henke that the character came from the Midwest, the actor took additional inspiration from the Dolly Parton song, "Coat of Many Colors," to help develop the vocal register and patterns for Tom. "I just wanted to research it as much as possible so it came across as relatable as possible to people in that position."
The Stand stars Alexander Skarsgård as Randall Flagg, Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail, James Marsden as Stu Redman, Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith, Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood, Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, Henry Zaga as Nick Andros, Brad William Henke as Tom Cullen, Irene Bedard as Ray Bretner, Nat Wolff as Lloyd Henreid, Eion Bailey as Weizak, Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor, Katherine McNamara as Julie Lawry, Fiona Dourif as Ratwoman, Natalie Martinez as Dayna Jurgens, Hamish Linklater as Dr. Jim Ellis, Daniel Sunjata as Cobb and Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman.
The series premieres Dec. 17 on CBS All Access.