Everything We Know So Far About Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’ Remake Coming Out This Month

Stephen King is known for creating terrifying worlds, but a remake of one of his books is eerily hitting close to home. His 1978 book The Stand is being created into a limited series. The CBS website describes the plot as “apocalyptic vision of a world decimated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil.” Sounds…unfortunately relatable.

The group of survivors are led by 108-year-old Mother Abigail, who will be played by none other than Whoopi Goldberg. Even when the pandemic wipes 99.4% of the population out and they think the worst is over, they meet Randall Flagg aka The Dark Man played by Alexander Skarsgård who makes all of their nightmares come true.

The group of survivors who join Mother Abigail work desperately to create a new society on high moral ground in Boulder, while The Dark Man and his followers create their own hedonistic society in “New Vegas,” where evil goes to thrive. Flagg holds large rallies preaching his “morality-free” visions, creates his own logo to plaster over every brand name, and punishes everyone who does not show him undying loyalty.

The cast of The Stand also includes James Mardsen, Ezra Miller, Amber Heard, Jovan Apedo, Odessa Young, Owen Teague, Henry Zaga, Brad William Henke, Nat Wolff, Irene Bedard, Eion Bailey, Heather Graham, Katherine McNamara, Fiona Durif, Natalie Martinez, Hamish Linklater, Daniel Sujata, and Greg Kinnear. Real-life scary person Marylin Manson was rumored to be on the cast to play The Kid from the extended version of The Stand, but the director of the series confirmed that both Manson and The Kid will not be in the series.

Even if you have read the book before or are familiar with the 1994 mini-series that starred Gary Sinese and Molly Ringwold, the ending of this series will still be a shock. Stephen King himself has rewritten the end of the series. The original book was set in the 1980s. King was unhappy with how the original book ended because the editor made him cut over 400 pages to fit the manuscript. In the 1990s, King rewrote the book to be in that time period and found an editor who would print over 1000 pages. He rearranged the chapters, made it culturally relevant, and made the ending even darker. This will be King’s 3rd revision of the story.

The Stand will be available on CBS All Access on December 17th.