‘The Stand’ Trailer Introduces the Good & the Evil of the Limited Series (VIDEO)

The Stand Alexander Skarsgard Dark Man Whoopi Goldberg Mother Abagail
Comic-Con
Robert Falconer/CBS

The wait until December is going to feel so much longer after you watch the epic, intense trailer for The Stand, the CBS All Access limited series based on Stephen King’s novel.

The series’ versions of good and evil take center stage in the new trailer and key art released during The Stand‘s New York Comic Con panel Friday. The first of nine episodes will premiere December 17 and drop weekly on Thursdays.

“The world is now a blank page,” 108-year-old Mother Abagail (Whoopi Goldberg) says to bookend the preview and encourages, “make your stand.” She’s on one side of the struggle between good and evil in a world that has been decimated by plague, and the fate of mankind rests on the shoulders of her and a handful of survivors. On the other side is Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård), a.k.a. the Dark Man, who embodies everyone’s worst nightmares with his “lethal smile and unspeakable powers” — and a seemingly normal smiley face on his jacket?

Stu Redman (James Marsden) welcomes survivors, including Larry Underwood (Jovan Adepo) by name, to the Boulder Free Zone. How does Stu know who he is? Mother Abagail, of course. She’s the one who has brought them all together to keep them safe.

But the Dark Man is out there. “Mostly I just see his wolf,” Stu says, and he’s not the only one. Others, including Mother Abagail, do, too. Watch the trailer below to see more from the ensemble cast, the battle between good and evil, and the Dark Man.

The cast of The Stand, which will end with a new coda by King, also includes Odessa Young as Frannie Goldsmith, Amber Heard as Nadine Cross, Owen Teague as Harold Lauder, Henry Zaga as Nick Andros, Brad William Henke as Tom Cullen, Irene Bedard as Ray Bretner, Nat Wolff as Lloyd Henreid, Eion Bailey as Weizak, Heather Graham as Rita Blakemoor, Katherine McNamara as Julie Lawry, Fiona Dourif as Ratwoman, Natalie Martinez as Dayna Jurgens, Hamish Linklater as Dr. Jim Ellis, Daniel Sunjata as Cobb, and Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman.

The Stand Official Key Art CBS All Access

(CBS All Access)

Benjamin Cavell serves as showrunner. Joining him as executive producers are Taylor Elmore, Will Weiske, Jimmy Miller, Roy Lee, and Richard P. Rubinstein. Josh Boone is the director and an executive producer for the series premiere and finale. Jake Braver, Jill Killington, Owen King, Knate Lee, and Stephen Welke are producers.

The Stand, Series Premiere, Thursday, December 17, CBS All Access