It’s going to be a bloody good time. The highly anticipated adaptation of Stephen King’s epic novel The Stand has finally gotten a premiere date. The limited series will stream on CBS All Access with 9 episodes in total. Each episode will air weekly starting on December 17, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The Stand dates all the way back to 1978 and is often regarded as one of the the best books from King, the master of horror with over 70 written works under his belt. This particular book may hit too close to home for some. In the beginning of The Stand, 98 percent of the world population has been wiped out after an uncontrollable and deadly virus caused a pandemic few could survive. Those lucky enough to still be breathing have to fight tooth and nail to continue on. The story examines morals and ethics in how people treat one another, do they stoop to the lowest and ugliest shades of humanity or rise up?
Benjamin Cavell (Justified) is the showrunner as well as executive producer and understands the importance and relevance of the upcoming series via Entertainment Weekly: “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…We’re honored to tell this sprawling, epic story, including a new coda that Stephen King has wanted to add for decades.” The limited series has a star studded cast including Whoopi Goldberg (Ghost), James Marsden (Westworld), Amber Heard (Aquaman) and more. The stories will be interwoven as the characters struggle to survive, having to decide what’s wrong and what’s right in this newly found dystopian wasteland.
The book is notoriously long. Well over 1000 pages, plan on starting it now in order to finish reading before the premiere date. Though it may seem too sensitive for some watching a show about a deadly pandemic, it is not meant to be a totally dark, hopeless portrayal of humanity. The key ingredient King was envisioning while writing the book was one of hope and strength. Speaking to Vanity Fair earlier this year, King said, “I wanted to write about bravery…At some point, people do have to make a stand.”