Those of us who have read Stephen King's Under the Dome know that Dale "Barbie" Barbara is one of the more capable and level-headed people trapped inside the mysterious dome that dropped down from the sky and has encapsulated an entire town. The photo above is one of three recently released glimpses of CBS' upcoming adaptation of the book, and aside from demonstrating Barbie's determination to get stuff done even when confined in a dome - in this case, make sure the airspace over the dome is shut down so planes don't crash into it - it's not particularly revealing. But it is one indication of pretty big deviation from the book. Why's he holding up a note to deliver a message to someone on the other side of the dome? We found out from one of the recent previews that people can't be heard through the dome. That's a change from the book, but we already knew that.
We can assume that the dome's mute-function will affect the story as people try to communicate with one another. But this next photo shows an even bigger change:
The caption for the image reads: "Deputy Linda (Natalie Martinez) and her fiancé, Rusty (Josh Carter), find themselves separated by a massive transparent dome that’s suddenly fallen on the town of Chester’s Mill"
Hold on a second. Linda and Rusty are on opposite sides of the dome? So which one's on the inside? From that preview I referenced earlier, it looks like Linda's in there with Barbie, which means Rusty is on the outside. In the book, both characters are under the dome. And while Linda's one of the more trustworthy deputies at the sheriff's department, her physician-assistant husband Rusty becomes the go-to guy for medical attention in Chester's Mill. Here, Rusty's been downgraded to fiance and bumped to the outside. Also, it looks like he's a fireman. We can probably also assume he and Linda don't have kids. But more importantly, who's tending to the sick and wounded under the dome if Rusty's on the outside? Rusty's a pretty big character in the book, so the fact that he's on the outside indicates some notable alterations to the story. It'll be interesting to see if elements from his character's story is transferred to some other character in the TV adaptation.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I still can't get over how perfect Dean Norris' casting is as Big Jim Rennie.
The photo is a bit less exciting, since we've seen the sight of Rennie looking upward in the trailer. Still, Dean Norris! Yay!
Under the Dome is set to premiere on CBS on Monday, June 24 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. And it's expected to be available to Amazon Prime subscribers a few days later.
