Why Cobb From The Stand Looks So Familiar
Another Stephen King adaptation is about to hit streaming, and fans should get excited about this latest take on The Stand — especially when you take a look at its star-studded cast.
The 2020 spin on The Stand, which will arrive on CBS All Access in December as a brand new miniseries, tells the now familiar story from King's original 1978 novel. In case you're not familiar, The Stand tells the story of a dystopian world ruined by diseases and plagues, and focuses specifically on a world-changing battle between life and evil, led by a woman over one hundred years old and fellow survivors as they face off against a horrible dark force known as the "Dark Man."
With Emmy winner Alexander Skarsgard as Randall Flagg — the "Dark Man" — and EGOT winner Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail, a woman of advanced age who must lead the revolution, leading up the cast, The Stand has plenty of stars in its midst. Alongside Skarsgard and Goldberg, familiar faces like James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Amber Heard, Nat Wolff, Hamish Linklater, Heather Graham, and more make up the supporting cast, including television staple Daniel Sunjata.
Sunjata plays Cobb, a character that doesn't appear in King's original novel; in the miniseries, he's a military man sent to protect seemingly ordinary everyman Stu Redman (Marsden), who is hiding a secret power all along. If you definitely feel like you've seen Daniel Sunjata before, here's why Cobb from The Stand looks so familiar.
Daniel Sunjata has appeared in a ton of popular television shows
Born and raised in Chicago, Sunjata attended the graduate acting program at New York City's Tisch School of the Arts, ultimately earning a masters degree in fine arts. After that, he started booking small supporting roles on some pretty big TV shows, like Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Sex and the City. In fact, some of his smaller gigs led to bigger opportunities; after appearing on Special Victims Unit as a bomb squad officer in 2000, he later joined the series for a 15 episode run from 2002 to 2004 as a CSI lab technician.
In 2004, Sunjata got his biggest break yet on the FX series Rescue Me, where he played a New York City firefighter alongside series lead Denis Leary. Throughout the series' run, Sunjata played Franco Rivera, a role he saw through until the show ended in 2011.
After the success of Rescue Me, Sunjata appeared in a number of high-profile projects, including the 2007 miniseries The Bronx is Burning, comedies like 30 Rock, popular dramas like Grey's Anatomy, and in other leading roles, like the short-lived crime drama Graceland. Recently, Sunjata appeared in the second season of Jordan Peele's Twilight Zone reboot, which also airs on CBS All Access.
If you want to see Sunjata in The Stand, the series premieres on December 17, 2020 on CBS All Access.