Stephen King's post-apocalyptic 1978 novel The Stand is one of the writer's most revered works, and a new eight-episode TV adaptation premieres on CBS All Access next month. A new trailer has now been released.

　　The latest promo focuses on two of the show's iconic characters. Mother Abagail--aka the Prophet--is a 108-year-old woman played by Whoopi Goldberg, who warns of "the Dark Man." This is Randall Flagg, played by Alexander Skarsgård, the demonic figure who threatens the survival of what's left of the human race. Check the trailer out below.

　　The Stand will debut on December 17 and run weekly through to February 18, 2021. The show also stars Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood, Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, and Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith. King himself has written the final episode, as well as a new coda that takes the story beyond the end point of the novel. Check out the first trailer here.

　　In a recent interview with Variety, showrunner Benjamin Cavell spoke about how the themes and story of The Stand, which deals with the after effects of a global pandemic, were so relevant to life in 2020. "When I came aboard this project in early 2018, I told [CBS All Access head of programming] Julie McNamara how eerily relevant I found this story even then," he said. "Not because I had any idea we'd be facing our own pandemic, but because I felt we were starting to question so many things we all grew up taking for granted about the structure of human civilization.

　　"What better moment for a show that imagines that civilization torn down to the studs, forcing our characters to confront questions about the very foundations of government, what society owes the individual and vice versa, what we all as humans owe to one another [and] what we're willing to sacrifice in terms of personal liberty in order to feel safe and protected?"

　　For more, check out GameSpot's guide to the biggest upcoming TV shows of 2020 and beyond.