The hype train keeps rolling, regardless of current events, for Stephen King's The Stand, a nine-episode miniseries that's planned to debut on CBS All Access in mid-December. This week, CBS debuted another new trailer, entitled "The Prophet Vs. The Dark Man," which sets up the story's central conflict.
The Stand, based on King's 1978 novel, is coming out at a weird time, as it depicts the fall of the United States following the accidental release of a bioengineered superflu. Two weeks later, roughly 99% of the American population is dead, and the handful of scattered survivors are inexorably drawn towards one of two leaders. One, Mother Abigail (Whoopi Goldberg), is a saintly old woman in Boulder, Colorado; the other, Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård), has set up shop in the ruins of Las Vegas and is high-key the Devil.
The new trailer focuses on the differences between the two camps, as well as the imminent battle between them. Boulder reestablishes itself as a small village would, complete with town meetings, while Flagg rebuilds Las Vegas into the same kind of 24-7 party town that it used to be. He's even got a hype man and a retinue of showgirls, the latter of which could not have been easy to find following the virus apocalypse.
This will be the third adaptation of The Stand to other media, following a 1994 miniseries that ran on ABC, starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Miguel Ferrer, and a five-volume comic-book series from Marvel, written by Robert Aguirre-Sarcasa with art by Mike Perkins.
It's worth noting here that The Stand, one of King's earliest books, was the start of a low-key plot arc that went on to extend throughout many of his later works. Randall Flagg became a recurring antagonist in King's fiction, appearing in novels like Needful Things, The Eyes of the Dragon, and the Dark Tower series, the latter of which is explicitly connected to the universes of every other King story, including The Stand. Given the renewed interest in King's work by film and television producers, there is officially a moderate to severe risk of a Stephen King Cinematic Universe. Take appropriate precautions.
Stephen King's The Stand also stars James Marsden, Amber Heard, Greg Kinnear, Odessa Young, Henry Zaga, Heather Graham, Jovan Adepo, Ezra Miller, Marilyn Manson, Henry Zaga, Brad William Henke, Daniel Sunjata, Katherine McNamara, and Natalie Martinez. It was also announced in August that two significant supporting roles in the novel, Ralph Brentner and the Rat Man, have been gender-flipped for the miniseries, to be played by Irene Bedard and Fiona Dourif.
The Stand features Josh Boone as director, with Benjamin Cavell as showrunner. The writing team includes Jill Killington, Eric Dickenson, Knate Lee, Cavell, Boone, King, and King's son Owen. Notably, the final episode of the miniseries, to be directed by Boone, features a new ending to the overall story by King himself, which he's reportedly been working on for over 30 years.
The first episode of The Stand will air exclusively on CBS's All Access streaming service on December 17th.
Source: CBS All Access/YouTube