Stephen King's pandemic thriller The Stand to premiere on US TV in December

A nine-part TV adaptation of Stephen King's apocalyptic thriller The Stand will debut on US television this December.

The Stand is a fight between good and evil in a world that has been decimated by a plague.

According to Variety, on the good side is Mother Abagail, played by Whoopi Goldberg, plus a handful of survivors who try to defend themselves against the Dark Man, also known as Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård).

The Stand showrunner Benjamin Cavell wasn't hiding from the irony of developing a series about a pandemic only for the real thing to devastate the planet.

“During the two years we spent making The Stand, we all felt the responsibility of adapting what may be the most beloved work of one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, but none of us could have imagined that Stephen King’s 40-year-old masterpiece about a global pandemic would come to be so eerily relevant,” he said.

“We’re honoured to tell this sprawling, epic story, including a new coda that Stephen King has wanted to add for decades. We’re so proud of this show and its attempt to find meaning and hope in the most uncertain of times. We can’t wait to share it with the world.”

It's not the first time The Stand has been adapted for television. In 1994 Gary Sinise, Jamey Sheridan, Molly Ringwald and Ruby Dee starred in a four-part series on ABC.

The Stand 2020 will co-star Dead to Me's James Marsden, Odessa Young, Amber Heard, Owen Teague and House of Cards' Greg Kinnear.

King's material has been in heavy production in the film and TV industry recently. The Outsider novel was turned into a drama series for HBO, AT&T Audience Network plans a long-running adaptation of his Mr Mercedes series of novels, while Hulu has Castle Rock, an anthology based on King's stories.

Last year The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, a new version of Pet Sematary and the second part of the latest version of It were released in cinemas, while In The Tall Grass, which he co-wrote with his son, Joe Hill, streamed on Netflix. Upcoming adaptations include The Dark Half, From a Buick 8, Mile 81, Revival, The Talisman, plus new versions of Salem’s Lot and The Tommyknockers.

It's not yet clear which network will air The Stand in the UK.

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