CBS releases trailer for THE STAND

CBS has released the first trailer for its upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's novel The Stand.

The Stand is set in a United States where almost the entire population has been wiped out by a disease dubbed the "superflu" and the survivors are drawn to two charismatic figures with very different views of how the aftermath will pan out.

The ten-part mini-series will debut on CBS All Access in the USA on 17 December.

THE STAND mini-series to hit screens in December

The latest adaptation of Stephen King's classic horror novel The Stand is due to start hitting TV screens on 17 December.

The Stand, originally published in 1978 but thoroughly revised in a second edition in 1990, tells the story of a global pandemic known as the "superflu" (also "Captain Trips") that wipes out more than 90% of the world's population. The American survivors are gathered into two camps, each offered guidance by a mysterious figure, one good and one evil, before they are forced into a final confrontation for the soul of humanity.

The Stand is one of Stephen King's two best-selling novels, a position it seems to alternate with It.

The new version of the story - the second, following a successful 1994 ABC mini-series - will debut on streaming service CBS All Access. Consisting of ten episodes (released weekly), it makes several changes to the story, approved by Stephen King. The first is that the story will start in the post-apocalyptic timeframe and will then flash back to events before the superflu. The second is that the infamously-criticised ending has been changed and revised by King, with an extensive new coda added. King himself has written the final episode of the new version to oversee these changes personally.

The new adaptation stars James Marsden as Stu Redman, Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman, Henry Zaga as Nick Andros, Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, Alexander Skarsgård as Randall Flagg, Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor, Amber Heard as Nadine Cross and Marilyn Manson in an unspecified role.

The new version of The Stand does not have an announced international partner as yet, although based on previous CBS All Access deals it is likely to air in the rest of the world via Netflix or Amazon Prime.

First look at CBS's unexpectedly topical adaptation of THE STAND

CBS may have found reality adhering rather uncomfortably close to fiction when their nine-part adaptation of a Stephen King novel about a global pandemic was forced to shut down due to...a global pandemic.

Whoopi Goldeberg as Mother Abigail, the enigmatic old lady who gathers the survivors together.

Fortunately, their take on The Stand was only four days from wrapping when the shutdown happened and they are hopeful that the work that still needed to be done can be picked up relatively quickly as soon as shooting restrictions are lifted.

Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo) and Rita Blakemoor (Heather Graham) trying to escape the carnage of a depopulated New York City.

CBS's version of the story differs from both the original 1978 novel and the 1994 mini-series starring Gary Sinise and Molly Ringwald. The new version starts in media res, with the "Captain Trips" virus having already struck and wiped out 99% of the global population. In the United States, where the population has been reduced to just three million scattered across a vast continent, several communities have survivors have gathered, the most prominent in Boulder, Colorado. This community, which is trying to survive through cooperation and hard work, finds itself opposed by a much darker group holed up in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the darker excesses and urges of humanity have been given free reign by a mysterious, charismatic stranger named Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgard).

Owen Teague as Harold Lauder and Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith.

The new mini-series will focus on characters in both groups, relaying their backstory through extensive flashbacks that will inform the choices they make in the present.

Alexander Skarsgård as Randall Flagg.

The Stand, produced by Benjamin Cavell and Taylor Elmore (Justified) and directed by Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars, The New Mutants), will be released on CBS All Access in the United States in late 2020. It is assumed that either Netflix or Amazon Prime will pick up the international distribution rights, but this has not been confirmed yet.

Alexander Skarsgård cast as Randall Flagg in Stephen King's THE STAND

CBS All Access has cast Alexander Skarsgård in the villainous role of Randall Flagg in Stephen King's The Stand.

One of the most iconic villains in all of horror, the supernatural Flagg arises from the chaos of the apocalypse to unleash a time of evil, savagery and darkness upon the world. He is opposed by the virtuous Mother Abigail, who assembles a band of mild-mannered heroes to fight him. Flagg is defeated in The Stand but not destroyed, and goes on to appear in several of King's other novels, including The Eyes of the Dragon and, as the "the man in black," the seven-volume Dark Tower series, where he serves as the primary antagonist.

Flagg was previously played by Jamey Sheridan in the 1994 TV mini-series version of The Stand and by Matthew McConaughey in the unsuccessful 2017 movie version of The Dark Tower.

Skarsgård is best-known for playing the role of morally ambiguous vampire Eric Northman on HBO's True Blood. He has also starred in HBO's Generation Kill and Big Little Lies, for which he won an Emmy Award.

The new version of The Stand will adapt the book across 10 episodes. It also stars James Marsden as Stu Redman, Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith, Henry Zaga as Nick Andros, Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail, Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, Brad William Henke as Tom Cullen and Daniel Sunjata as Cobb. It starts shooting imminently and will air in late 2020.

Stephen King writing a new ending for TV version of THE STAND

Stephen King has confirmed that he is rewriting the ending of his 1978 novel The Stand for TV.

The Stand depicts the collapse of civilisation when the world is ravaged by a "superflu" virus, and the subsequent battle between good and evil groups of survivors. One of King's biggest-selling and most beloved novels, it's also garnered a reputation for having a somewhat weak ending. The 1994 ABC mini-series retains this ending.

The new TV version will feature a revamped ending, penned by King himself, which will expand on the fate of key characters. Some versions of The Stand feature a different (and more depressing) ending, so it's unclear if King is drawing on this, or if he is just adding to the ending or rewriting the "deus ex machina" nature of the ending altogether.

The Stand is a ten-episode limited series for CBS All Access, starring James Marsden and Amber Heard. It starts shooting shortly, to air on CBS All Access likely in late 2020.