That’s actually pretty phenomenal casting, for reasons that will be slightly difficult to parse without seeming undiplomatic or mean on Marsden’s account. Let’s just say that, as written, Stu is mostly intended to be a decent, not especially exciting substrate for the events of the novel to happen to, rather than a real dynamic character—and then note that the guy who spent the 2000s playing the X-Men’s Cyclops, and the guy Lois Lane married because her top pick was off screwing around in space, might be distinctly well-suited for the part. Marsden finds himself in good company, at least; with nothing official, the guessed-at casting has also included Whoopi Goldberg as the heroic Mother Abigail, Amber Heard as doomed bride of Satan Nadine, and—bizarrely—56-year-old Greg Kinnear as retiree Glen, a part that Ray Walston played when he was pushing 80 way back in 1994.
The real question, of course, is one that’s so far gone unspeculated upon, at least in official circles: Who’ll play the Walking Dude himself, King’s most charmingly recurring bad guy, devil-figure Randall Flagg. Jamey Sheridan played the character with Billy Ray Cyrus swagger in the TV miniseries, while Matthew McConaughey (unofficially) portrayed him in 2017's The Dark Tower. Given that Flagg is supposed to be an oozing font of otherworldly charisma—which even McConaughey, of all people, struggled with—it’s probably going to be a pretty tall order to cast him. (Something that’s presumably also facing the producers of Hulu’s Eyes Of The Dragon adaptation because, again, Flagg really gets around.)
