Stephen King’s The Stand at CBS All Access: Everything to Know About the New Adaptation Series

Stephen King‘s The Stand is heading back to the small screen — this time, with a 10-episode streaming series coming to CBS All Access.

King’s 1978 novel is one of his most popular titles ever and centers on a group of survivors who have managed to make it through the catastrophic plague that cost the other 99 percent of the world their lives, but which must still contend with Randall Flagg a.k.a. the Dark Man.

CBS All Access announced a straight-to-series order for The Stand in January 2019, which marks the first time the story has been adapted since 1994, when it debuted as a four-episode miniseries on ABC. The new take on The Stand has since begun to take shape, so to keep you up to speed with everything ahead for this eerie apocalyptic series, here’s a look at everything we know about The Stand so far.

Stephen King is very into the scripts. Alongside the announcement that CBS All Access would help breathe new screen life into The Stand, the story’s scribe himself offered high praise for what he’d seen of the series so far. “I’m excited and so very pleased that The Stand is going to have a new life on this exciting new platform,” King said in a statement. “The people involved are men and women who know exactly what they’re doing; the scripts are dynamite. The result bids to be something memorable and thrilling. I believe it will take viewers away to a world they hope will never happen.”

The producers are major fans. Writing and producing The Stand for CBS All access are Josh Boone and Ben Cavell. Boone is known for his work behind the camera for 2014’s The Fault in Our Stars, while Cavell is known for his work on series like Justified, Homeland, and SEAL Team. Upon being announced as the power team behind the new adaptation, Boone revealed a very long-standing connection to King and the story of The Stand, revealing that it was the book his parents burned when he was a child. “I stole my Dad’s Fed-Ex account number and mailed King a letter professing my love for his work. Several weeks later, I came home to find a box had arrived from Maine and inside were several books, each inscribed with a beautiful note from God himself, who encouraged me in my writing and thanked me for being a fan,” said Boone.

The cast is coming together. Though nothing has been confirmed just yet, James Marsden is reportedly being courted to lead up the series in the role of Stu Redman, the man who is immune to the lethal virus and eventually leads those in the Free Zone. Meanwhile, Amber Heard may star as Nadine Cross, Whoopi Goldberg is rumored to play the self-proclaimed prophet Mother Abagail, and Greg Kinnear, Odessa Young, and Henry Zaga are also currently in negotiations for roles.

The Stand is the latest of several scripted series to come to CBS All Access, which is also home to The Good Fight, No Activity, Strange Angel, Tell Me a Story, Star Trek: Discovery, The Twilight Zone, and Why Women Kill.

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