One of Stephen King’s best-loved novels – and his longest to date – is 1978’s The Stand. The post-apocalyptic horror saw 99 per cent of the world’s population killed off by a form of influenza that had been modified for use in biological warfare. And now as The Stand is set to be adapted for TV, one of its stars James Marsden has made comparisons to coronavirus .

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Speaking with Variety and iHeart’s The Big Ticket podcast, Marsden said: “There are scenes in the beginning of The Stand where as soon as you see someone who looks normal sneeze or cough into their arm, everyone’s eyes in the room darts towards them.

“I see that in public now, and everyone kind of takes a few steps away from the person.

“It’s crazy. We’re in full panic mode right now.

“Obviously, no one would ever want to capitalise on something as horrible as this, but it certainly makes it relevant.”

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