Stephen King's New The Stand TV Series Set to Debut Late 2020

Production on a new TV series adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand launched last fall and, due in large part to the sprawling scope of the production, won't be landing on CBS All Access until the end of the year. While this news might disappoint some fans, getting any sort of update about the project's release is still something that will excite King's passionate followers. The novel, which is one of King's more massive tomes, blends horror, science fiction, fantasy, and drama for an epic journey, which was previously adapted into a four-part live-action series back in 1994 for ABC.

News of the series' debut was revealed at a Television Critics Association event.

The Stand is Stephen King’s apocalyptic vision of a world decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil. The fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the Dark Man.

James Marsden, Amber Heard, Heather Graham, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo, Owen Teague, Henry Zaga, Brad William Henke, Eion Bailey, Katherine McNamara, Hamish Linklater, Alexander Skarsgård, Greg Kinnear, and Whoopi Goldberg all star in the new series. Josh Boone serves as the showrunner of the adaptation.

King's works have always been a popular source of inspiration for movies and TV series, though King himself previously expressed his excitement at this new adaptation offering a bigger production value than the '90s miniseries.

“I like [showrunner] Josh Boone’s work, I actually worked with him on his first feature,” King shared on the Post Mortem Podcast. “And then he did The Fault in Our Stars, which I thought showed his grasp of the medium. And I like him a lot. I like his reach… his ambition for [The Stand]. Really the thing I’m most excited about is, first of all, we’ve got two more hours to tell the story. And second, we’re free of all those things that held us back with [the original mini-series]. Not only is the budget bigger… we’re free… in terms of language, in terms of violence… in a way that we weren’t with the original.”

Adding to the excitement of the new adaptation is that it will feature an epilogue written by King himself which was previously absent from all versions of the novel.

“Had it for years,” King shared with The New York Times about the new ending. “I always wanted to find out what happened to Stu and Frannie when they went back.”

Stay tuned for details on The Stand adaptation.

Are you looking forward to the new series? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things horror and Star Wars!

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