CBS All Access’ The Stand Adaptation Lands Whoopi Goldberg and Alexander Skarsgard

The latest TV adaptation of Stephen King’s epic post-apocalyptic novel The Stand is coming together in a big way, with Oscar winner Whoopi Goldberg and Emmy winner Alexander Skarsgard leading a group of new additions to the CBS All Access limited series’ cast revealed on Wednesday.

Goldberg and King himself announced on The View this morning that Goldberg will play Mother Abagail, the spiritual leader and prophet of God who watches over the survivors of a superflu that killed over 99% of the planet’s population. Collider, meanwhile, reports that Big Little Lies star Skarsgard will play antagonist Randall Flagg, aka The Man in Black, a demonic figure who terrorizes Mother Abagail and her flock.

Other new additions to the cast announced by CBS All Access today include Jovan Adepo (When They See Us) as troubled young singer-songwriter Larry Underwood, Owen Teague (It: Chapter Two) as teenage social outcast Harold Lauder, Brad William Henke (Orange Is the New Black) as the kindly, developmentally disabled Tom Cullen, and Daniel Sunjata (Rescue Me) as Cobb, the military member charged with supervising Stu Redman as the government searches for a cure for the superflu.

Previously announced members of the adaptation’s cast include James Marsden (Westworld) as Stu Redman, Amber Heard (Aquaman) as Nadine Cross, Odessa Young (The Daughter) as Frannie Goldsmith, and Henry Zaga (13 Reasons Why) as Nick Andros.

Josh Boone and Ben Cavell write and executive produce The Stand, with Boone in the director’s chair. King himself will script the limited series’ last chapter, adding a new coda you won’t find in the 1978 novel.

We recently ranked The Stand as King’s best novel, lauding it as “his most epic standoff between good and evil.”

Stay tuned for more on the limited series, coming to CBS All Access sometime in 2020, and watch Goldberg and King discuss her casting on The View below.

.@WhoopiGoldberg announces her role in @StephenKing’s limited event series ‘The Stand’! https://t.co/f8u2wc159Spic.twitter.com/Sooltz7ULf

— The View (@TheView) September 11, 2019