The Stand Premiere Date Announced by CBS All Access

This winter, another Stephen King adaptation is heading to TV, and the subject couldn’t be more timely. CBS All Access has revealed that its limited series adaptation of The Stand, King’s apocalyptic story about the aftermath of a devastating plague that wipes out 99 percent of mankind, will premiere on Thursday, Dec. 17, with new episodes dropping weekly.

The Stand is one of King’s best-known books and centers on a group of people who band together in Boulder, Colorado, after surviving the deadly virus Captain Trips. Though they want to live in harmony under the leadership of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail (Whoopi Goldberg), they’ll have to gear up for a battle of good versus evil against the supernatural villain Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard) and his ragtag team of miscreants. 

Though fans of the book or the previous TV adaptation — a 1994 ABC miniseries of the same name — might think they know how the story ends, King himself has written a new conclusion to The Stand which will debut in the CBS All Access drama’s series finale. 

Stephen King’s The Stand on CBS All Access: Everything We Know About the New Series

In a statement, showrunner and executive producer Ben Cavell talked about the bizarre coincidence of releasing the series amid a real-life pandemic. “During the two years we spent making The Stand, 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 said. “We’re honored to tell this sprawling, epic story, including a new coda that Stephen King has wanted to add for decades. We’re so proud of this show and its attempt to find meaning and hope in the most uncertain of times. We can’t wait to share it with the world.”

The Stand features James Marsden as Stu Redman, Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, Brad William Henke as Tom Cullen, Daniel Sunjata as Cobb, Nat Wolff as Lloyd Henreid, Kat McNamara as Julie Lawry, Eion Bailey as Teddy Weizak, Hamish Linklater as Dr. Ellis, Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor, and Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman. Josh Boone directs and executive produces both the premiere and finale of the nine-episode series. 

The Stand will premiere on CBS All Access on Thursday, Dec. 17.

Alexander Skarsgård, The StandPhoto: Robert Falconer/CBS