‘The Stand’ Premieres This December on CBS All Access

Are you ready to embark on a journey through a post-apocalyptic America decimated by a pandemic, and ruled over about a despotic being looking to make his control over the world absolute? Also, The Stand premieres this December on CBS All Access.

All apoca-kidding aside, the highly anticipated adaptation of Stephen King’s arguably greatest work has been a long time coming, but you’ll finally be able to see the nine-episode series when it debuts on CBS All Access on Thursday, December 17. As usual with ViacomCBS’ streamer, episodes will drop weekly, leading up to an all-new coda to the series written by King himself.

Originally publishing in 1978, the massive novel was a critical hit and a best-seller, later released in a “Complete and Uncut Edition” that also was a critical hit and best-seller. In 1994, The Stand was adapted into a well-received TV miniseries starring Gary Sinise, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald and many more. It was insanely expensive for the time at $6 million an episode, and ended up snagging six Emmy nominations.

Despite the generally liked mini-series, various studios have expressed interest in another adaptation of the property, leading to multiple tries at a film version including everyone ranging from Ben Affleck, to Josh Boone — who tried for years to adapt the novel into four, feature-length movies. It also — fun fact — was adapted into a Marvel comic book series written by Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. In 2017, however, King brought the project to CBS All Access (or Showtime), leading to the series you’ll get to see this December; assuming we all live that long.

“During the two years we spent making The Stand, we all felt the responsibility of adapting what may be the most beloved work of one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, but none of us could have imagined that Stephen King’s 40-year-old masterpiece about a global pandemic would come to be so eerily relevant,” said Benjamin Cavell, showrunner and executive producer via press release provided to Decider. “We’re honored to tell this sprawling, epic story, including a new coda that Stephen King has wanted to add for decades. We’re so proud of this show and its attempt to find meaning and hope in the most uncertain of times. We can’t wait to share it with the world.”

What makes The Stand so enduring? Its plot, which starts with a plague called Captain Trips, and ends with a massive showdown in Las Vegas between the forces of good and evil. Good is led by Mother Abigail, played by Whoopi Goldberg, an 108-year-old, mysterious woman who is trying to save the world. On the side of extremely bad is Randall Flagg, played by Alexander Skarsgård. Enigmatic and vicious, Flagg is one of the pieces of connective fiber in King’s multiverse, popping up in various forms throughout his books; most notably The Dark Tower, where he’s the ultimate villain of that series, too.

The Stand miniseries has, as you might imagine, a massive cast beyond Goldberg and Skarsgård: James Marsden as Stu Redman, Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith, Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood, Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, Henry Zaga as Nick Andros, Brad William Henke as Tom Cullen, Irene Bedard as Ray Bretner, Nat Wolff as Lloyd Henreid, Eion Bailey as Weizak, Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor, Katherine McNamara as Julie Lawry, Fiona Dourif as Ratwoman, Natalie Martinez as Dayna Jurgens, Hamish Linklater as Dr. Jim Ellis, Daniel Sunjata as Cobb and Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman.

The series is produced by CBS Television Studios. Benjamin Cavell serves as showrunner and executive producer alongside Taylor Elmore, Will Weiske, Jimmy Miller, Roy Lee and Richard P. Rubinstein. Josh Boone serves as director and an executive producer for the series premiere and final episode. Jake Braver, Jill Killington, Owen King, Knate Lee, and Stephen Welke serve as producers.

The Stand is also part of an aggressive push on the part of CBS All Access, which is currently in the midst of 23 weeks of Star Trek. The currently running animated comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks will run directly into the Season 3 premiere of Star Trek: Discovery on October 15. And in case you’re planning your watching schedule, with 13 episodes in Discovery‘s Junior season, it will run until January 7, 2021. Meanwhile, The Stand will run until February 11.

This isn’t the first time CBS All Access has overlapped their usual Thursday debut for shows — Star Trek: Picard and Interrogation ran nearly simultaneously earlier this year — but it’s certainly the two most high-profile shows the service has ran at the same time. As CBS All Access heads towards an upcoming rebranding to bring it in line with the newly consolidated ViacomCBS, expect potential ramp-ups in content like this continue. That is, if we all survive Captain Trips.