Stephen King’s The Stand was on full display at New York Comic-Con. On Friday afternoon, CBS All Access’ highly anticipated miniseries adaptation took over the virtual convention with a star-studded panel that culminated in the reveal of a brand new full-length trailer.
Unlike the teaser that dropped back in August, this trailer offers a true in-depth look at the apocalyptic epic. A few of the images should send a shiver down your spine, particularly as we deal with our own ensuing pandemic.
We get shots of the principal characters, we get glimpses of the world-building at hand, and we see a ton of allusions to the original novel. If you weren’t hyped already, this should leave Constant Readers champing at the bit for December.
Watch the trailer below.
Hosted by Vanity Fair’s Anthony Breznican, the panel featured interviews with Whoopi Goldberg, James Marsden, Greg Kinnear, Amber Heard, Jovan Adepo, Odessa Young, Owen Teague, showrunner Benjamin Cavell, and executive producer Taylor Elmore. Noticeably missing from the affair was Alexander Skarsgard, who plays the terrifying Randall Flagg.
Together, they discussed the legacy of the novel, their respective characters, and several changes to expect come December. Goldberg, in particular, addressed her role as Mother Abigail, contending: “She couldn’t be the magic negro. We couldn’t have that. That was fine 40 years ago, but she had to be a real person. You had to feel her.”
Catch the full panel below.
Stay tuned to our weekly Stephen King podcast, The Losers’ Club, for further developments. Below, you can hear them offer a comprehensive breakdown of both the trailer and the panel. There were a few revelations.
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Once again, the miniseries stars Goldberg as Mother Abigail, Skarsgard as Randall Flagg, Young as Frannie Goldsmith, Adepo as Larry Underwood, Teague as Harold Lauder, Nat Wolff as Lloyd Henreid, Marsden as Stu Redman, Heard as Nadine Cross, Kinnear as Glen Bateman, and Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor.
Published in 1978 and updated in 1990, the 1,200 page tome takes place in a world ravaged by an unstoppable plague, where the survivors are caught in a struggle between good and evil. There are those who follow the prophetic wisdom of 108-year-old Mother Abagail, and there are those who follow the lead of the eternally evil Randall Flagg.
The nine-episode series premieres on December 17th and will drop weekly as opposed to all at once as CBS All Access recently did with The Twilight Zone. King himself penned the final episode that takes place after the novel’s ending.
