If you’ve ever sat through all 1,100+ pages of Stephen King’s The Stand, you know there are villains, and then there is Julie Lawry. Most people talk about Randall Flagg because he’s the literal devil in denim. Or they talk about Harold Lauder because his descent into incel-fueled madness is just so deeply uncomfortable to watch. But Julie? She’s a different kind of nasty.
She isn't a world-ending sorcerer. Honestly, she’s just a cruel, broken person who thrives when the world falls apart.
Who is Julie Lawry in The Stand?
You first meet Julie in Oklahoma. Nick Andros and Tom Cullen—easily the two most pure-hearted characters in the entire book—stumble across her in a deserted store. At first, you kinda feel for her. She’s alone, surviving the Captain Trips superflu, and seemingly just looking for a connection. She and Nick have a brief, physical encounter. But the mask slips fast.
The moment she starts interacting with Tom Cullen, her true colors come out. She ridicules Tom’s developmental disability. It’s not just a passing comment, either; it’s mean-spirited and visceral. She even tries to trick him into thinking Pepto-Bismol is poison just to scare him. When Nick realizes she’s a monster and tries to leave with Tom, she doesn't just let them go. She grabs a rifle and tries to shoot them.
That’s basically the Julie Lawry starter pack: cruelty, impulsiveness, and a total lack of empathy.
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The Evolution of a Vegas Socialite
What makes Julie Lawry in The Stand so effective as a secondary villain is how she pops back up later. King has this way of making the world feel small. After Nick and Tom escape her, you almost forget about her until the story shifts to Las Vegas.
In Flagg’s version of Vegas, Julie is thriving. It makes sense, right? While the "good guys" in Boulder are trying to build a democracy with rules and committees, Flagg’s Vegas is built on fear and a very specific kind of order. Julie fits right in. She becomes a sort of social fixture in the West, eventually becoming Lloyd Henreid’s girlfriend.
She hasn't changed. She’s just more powerful now.
Why she’s actually important to the plot
A lot of readers think Julie is just there for flavor, but she’s actually the primary catalyst for one of the biggest turning points in the book. She’s the one who recognizes Tom Cullen when he’s acting as a spy in Vegas. If she hadn't been there, Tom might have gone undetected. Because she remembers him from that day in Oklahoma, the whole mission goes sideways.
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Shawnee Smith vs. Katherine McNamara: The On-Screen Versions
If you’ve watched the adaptations, you’ve seen two very different takes on this character.
- Shawnee Smith (1994 Miniseries): Smith played Julie with this frantic, "crazy little bat-faced girl" energy that Flagg famously calls her in the book. She felt like a live wire. It was 90s television at its peak—slightly campy but genuinely unsettling.
- Katherine McNamara (2020 Miniseries): This version was a bit of a departure. McNamara’s Julie was more of a calculating, "mean girl" socialite. She had the pink hair, the attitude, and a much larger presence in the Vegas scenes.
The 2020 version expanded her role significantly. Instead of just being a plot device to catch Tom, she’s throughout the New Vegas arc, acting as a mirror for how humanity degrades when given permission to be their worst selves. Honestly, Katherine McNamara looked like she was having the time of her life playing someone so "gross," as she put it in interviews.
Why Julie Lawry Still Matters in 2026
We talk a lot about "villain origins" these days. Everyone wants to know why a character became bad. Was it trauma? Was it the environment?
The scary thing about Julie Lawry is that King doesn't give us a tragic backstory. She just is. In a post-apocalyptic setting, most people try to find their better selves. Julie finds her worst self and leans into it because it’s easier and more profitable. She represents the "fair-weather" evil—the kind of person who is held in check by society’s rules, but as soon as the police and the grocery stores disappear, they become a predator.
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Breaking down her final moments
In the book, Julie’s end is chaotic, much like her life. During the final "Stand" in Vegas, when the "Hand of God" (the literal manifestation of divine intervention) descends, Julie is right there in the thick of the panic. She doesn't get a grand redemption. She dies in the fire and the fury, a victim of the very chaos she helped nurture.
Key Takeaways for Fans of The Stand
If you’re revisiting the book or the shows, keep an eye on Julie. She’s more than just a "crazy girl" trope.
- She’s a Foil for Nick Andros: Nick is a man who cannot hear or speak but understands the soul of everyone he meets. Julie can speak, but she uses her voice only to tear people down.
- The Power of Memory: Her role proves that in a world of millions, your past actions—even a single afternoon in a drugstore—can come back to haunt you.
- A Warning on Groupthink: Julie thrives in Vegas because she finds a group that rewards her cruelty. It’s a classic study in how toxic environments amplify toxic people.
Next time you’re debating the best characters in The Stand, don't skip over the girl with the rifle in Oklahoma. She’s the reason the heroes almost failed.
To get the full experience of her character arc, you should compare the "Uncut" version of the novel with the 1994 miniseries. The Uncut version provides way more context for the atmosphere in Vegas that allowed someone like Julie to rise to the top of the social ladder.
If you want to understand the darker side of King's world-building, look at the minor characters like Julie Lawry. They are often more realistic and terrifying than the supernatural monsters. Read the "Campion" chapters again to see how the world fell apart, then jump to Julie's introduction to see how quickly the "new world" lost its humanity.