Overview
Ten months in, 2020 has served up all manner of challenges and surprises. But in one area at least, it's rolling on as planned. Because few years can sneak by without serving up multiple new film and/or television adaptations of Stephen King's work, viewers are about to score 2020's latest — a new mini-series version of the author's 1978 novel The Stand.
Due to hit American streaming services in December — with release plans Down Under yet to be revealed — The Stand joins HBO's The Outsider as the two new TV shows bringing King's work to our eyeballs this year. Of course, as avid fans will know, this isn't the first time this particular book has made the leap to the screen. Back in 1994, it aired as a big-budget, star-studded, four-part mini-series featuring the likes of Gary Sinise, Miguel Ferrer, Rob Lowe, Ruby Dee, Laura San Giacomo, Molly Ringwald and Ed Harris.
Plenty of well-known names are onboard this time around, too, because there's quite the sprawling story to tell. And, quite the timely one, although that's obviously pure coincidence. The Stand is set in a world devastated by a plague, with a battle between good and evil playing out among the survivors. Featuring prominently is the character of Randall Flagg, a common figure in King's work (see: The Eyes of the Dragon and The Dark Tower series).
Alexander Skarsgård plays Flagg, while the rest of the cast includes James Marsden, Whoopi Goldberg, Amber Heard and Heather Graham, as well as Watchmen's Jovan Adepo, Paper Towns' Nat Wolff, IT: Chapter Two's Owen Teague, Arrow's Katherine McNamara, and Australian Shirley and The Daughter actor Odessa Young.
Behind the lens, The Stand is the latest project from filmmaker Josh Boone — whose latest movie, The New Mutants, hit cinemas in the past few months after years of delays.
Check out the trailer below:
The Stand screens in the US from December 17 via CBS All Access — we'll update you with an air date Down Under when one is announced.
Top image: CBS All Access.