Merry Christmas from Stephen King and CBS All Access: The highly anticipated small-screen adaptation of The Stand arrives Dec. 17.
CBS All Access made the announcement this week, according to comicbook.com, adding that the limited series will air every week after that date for a total of nine episodes.
The Stand–with Benjamin Cavell as showrunner and executive producer–is the best-selling horror master’s apocalyptic vision of “a world decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil,” according to the official synopsis.
In this harrowing tale, “the fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers–Randall Flagg, the Dark Man.”
Cavell noted the uncanny similarities between King’s classic novel and the events of 2020. “During the two years we spent making The Stand,” he said, “we all felt the responsibility of adapting what may be the most beloved work of one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, but none of us could have imagined that Stephen King’s 40-year-old masterpiece about a global pandemic would come to be so eerily relevant.”
Cavell added that the show’s cast and crew are “honored to tell this sprawling, epic story–including a coda that Stephen King has wanted to add for decades. We can’t wait to share it with the world.”
The adaptation stars Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail and Alexander Skarsgard as Randall Flagg. The ensemble cast includes James Marsden, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo, Amber Heard, Owen Teague, Henry Zaga, Brad William Henke, Irene Bedard, Nat Wolff, Eion Bailey, Heather Graham, Katherine McNamara, Fiona Dourif, Natalie Martinez, Hamish Linklater, Daniel Sunjata and Greg Kinnear.
Josh Boone (The New Mutants) serves as director and executive producer for the series premiere and the final episode. Taylor Elmor, Will Weiske, Jimmy Miller, Roy Lee and Richard P. Rubinstein act as executive producers, with Jake Braver, Jill Killington, Owen King, Knate Lee and Stephen Welke as producers.
Keep reading Horror News Network for any updates on The Stand and any future projects from Stephen King.
