Stephen King's The Stand gets a 10-episode series on CBS All Access

Stephen King.
(Image credit: KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty Images)

It's not the end of the world for The Stand.

CBS All Access is picking up the 1978 Stephen King novel and turning it into a 10-episode limited series, the network announced Wednesday. Writers Josh Boone and Ben Cavell have been developing the project for years, and it finally got the green light with Boone directing, per Entertainment Weekly.

The Stand tells of "a world mostly wiped out by the plague," Variety says. CBS describes the setting as "embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil" where "the fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail and a handful of survivors."

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Boone previously directed the 2014 adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars, and adapted Stephen King's Revival into a still-unmade film. He's always loved King's books, saying in a statement that he read The Stand when he was 12 before his "Baptist parents burned it in our fireplace." He then wrote a letter to King "professing my love for his work," and got a box of signed books from King in return. King also said in a statement that he was "excited and so very pleased" with the adaptation, adding that "the people involved are men and women who know exactly what they're doing" and he "believe[s] it will take viewers away to a world they hope will never happen."

The Stand previously saw the small-screen in 1994, debuting as a four-episode ABC series starring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, and Rob Lowe. King's book Pet Sematary is set to hit movie theaters April 5, and a sequel to It is coming this Sept. 6.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.