The Stand anthology is a first for Stephen King, the first time he's had or allowed other writers to write stories set in one of his own universes.

Considering that, The End of the World As We Know It is one of the most exciting Stephen King-related projects coming out soon, even if he's not actually writing it. Still, that's not the only reason it has so much potential: Stephen King's book endings often leave readers wanting more. The End of the World As We Know It can fix it.

Stephen King's The Stand Needed To Spend More Time On The Aftermath Of Its Story

It Ends Too Abruptly After The Nuclear Explosion In Las Vegas

The Stand is undoubtedly one of Stephen King's masterworks. The novel, which pits the citizens of Boulder, Colorado under the guidance of Mother Abigail against the denizens of Randall Flagg's Las Vegas, is the purest good vs. evil story King has ever penned. The tale quietly explores the motivations and relationships between the survivors of the Captain Trips superflu against the backdrop of a sweeping, post-apocalyptic epic. In of the breadth of pure human experience and psyche, The Stand examines both as deeply and thoroughly as any novel ever penned. It's a classic through and through.

That said, for as all-encoming as the story is, the ending, like many Stephen King book endings, is a bit lackluster. In truth, it's hard to wrap up such an epic story adequately, but after the final showdown in Las Vegas, The Stand ends rather abruptly. Though the population of the United States was decimated in the first few chapters of the novel, one would think that the aftermath of a nuclear explosion would warrant some depth. In most books, that would be the inciting event, but in The Stand, it's the climactic one, and a climax that happens abruptly, at that. It's an apocalyptic event that follows an already apocalyptic event, so for it to go unexplored is underwhelming.

2025's The Stand Anthology Can Make Up For The Stand's Sudden Ending

Other Writers Can Take A Crack At Fleshing Out The Aftermath

That's partly why The End of the World As We Know It is so exciting. With so many stories set in the universe, and some set after the events of The Stand, the anthology can finally explore all the parts of the world that the original novel never did, as well as what happened after. Even with The Stand's sprawling cast of characters, there were still plenty of survivors who never made it to Boulder or Las Vegas and whose stories we never got to see. The anthology can follow different people, further fleshing out the world in a way Stephen King didn't get to, as well as explore the aftermath of the nuclear bomb. If The Stand didn't stick the landing, letting other writers have a crack at it is the next best thing.