Stephen King's The Stand: Check Out The First New Images From New TV Series

Stephen King's 1978 post-apocalyptic novel The Stand is one of the writer's most celebrated works and was previously adapted for TV back in the mid-1990s. There have been several attempts to make a movie version since then, but while none of these happened, a new TV adaptation is on the way. The first images have now been revealed, along with new details about the show.

The images come via Vanity Fair. They show most of The Stand's main cast, including Alexander Skarsgård as Randall Flagg, Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abagail, Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood, Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, and Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith. Check out Skarsgård as the mysterious Flagg below, and the others over at Vanity Fair's site.

While The Stand doesn't yet a confirmed premiere date, it is set to arrive on CBS All Access later in 2020 and will run for nine episodes. Comparisons with the current situation around the world are impossible to avoid, as the story focuses on the aftermath of a global pandemic, which has wiped out the vast majority of the world's population.

Production wrapped in March four days ahead of schedule because of the COVID-19 outbreak. "It was very surreal, obviously, to start to realize that there was a creeping pandemic the way there was at the beginning of our show," co-showrunner bejmain Cavell said.

Cavell also reveals that The Stand will take a different approach to the 1994 adaptation, which was written by King and had a more linear narrative, starting before the plague struck. Instead, the new show will start with the world already in chaos. "King does this great thing that we made the conscious decision not to do, which is to go to the 10,000 foot view of what's going on," he said.

"That's not a luxury that our people have. What does the apocalypse look like from the ground where you can't see what's happening other places, you can't see what's happening to other people, you can only see your subjective experience?"

For more, check out GameSpot's guide to the biggest upcoming shows of 2020 and beyond.