Ready or not, The Stand is here with high-impact first teaser

The first teaser for The Stand is here, giving fans a first look at the upcoming limited series based on the iconic, mind-twisting Stephen King novel of the same name. The 30-second clip is short but sweet, with Whoopi Goldberg’s “Mother” Abigail Freemantle pulling back the curtain on the proceedings over a hauntingly reworked musical backdrop of Fugees’ “Ready or Not.”

At first blush, CBS All Access’ TV adaptation looks like it’s leaning into an equal mixture of action and suspense, though it’s impossible to get a full reading on a story as epic as The Stand from a teaser this brief. Whatever other surprises may await, the 2020 version sets itself clearly apart from the 1994 miniseries that ran on ABC.

Published in 1978, King’s slab-thick novel pitched a gripping post-apocalyptic struggle to forge a new society in a dark fantasy setting, juggling an ensemble of characters and sub-plots that have since made adapting the work for the screen a challenge. For CBS All Access’ present-day update, New Mutants writer Josh Boone and Justified writer Benjamin Cavell are handling the script, with Boone also directing.

Starring Goldberg alongside a killer cast that includes James Marsden, Amber Heard, Greg Kinnear, Alexander Skarsgård, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo, and more, The Stand is headed to CBS All Access as a limited event series premiering Dec. 17.