Hollywood seems to churn out Stephen King adaptations at almost the same rate the prolific author writes the source material, and the industry’s recent obsession with his work looks set to continue at pace. With so many King projects hitting our screens in recent times, though, it shouldn’t come as much surprise that a lot of it has been marked with inconsistency.
Andy Muschietti’s two-part It may have done big business at the box office after earning well over a billion dollars combined and turning Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise into a modern day horror icon, but there’s also been some major misfires with The Dark Tower and The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep bombing in theaters. Although, the latter has at least enjoyed a new lease of life on HBO Max.
In total, there are no less than eleven movies and eight TV shows in various stages of development that were originally penned by King, and next out of the gate is CBS’ new take on The Stand, which was already the subject of a small screen series back in 1994. The premiere date for the first episode was announced last week, and to celebrate the news, the first teaser trailer has now arrived online.
The Stand is generally regarded as one of King’s finest works, with the previous star-studded version drawing widespread praise, meaning that there’s a lot of pressure on the latest take on the material to deliver. The New Mutants‘ Josh Boone is heading this one up and the ensemble is populated with famous faces like James Marsden, Amber Heard, Greg Kinnear and Whoopi Golberg, among others, so hopefully it can live up to the reputation of both the novel and the last TV adaptation to justify its existence and avoid becoming the latest page-to-screen disappointment.