# The Stand (2020)

> After a plague has wiped out most of humanity, a handful of survivors rally around a 108-year-old mystic while the Dark Man Randall Flagg builds his own dark army.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/73372

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 9
- Episode runtime: 58 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: horror, science fiction, drama
- Created by: Benjamin Cavell, Josh Boone
- Network: CBS All Access
- Cast: James Marsden, Odessa Young, Alexander Skarsgård, Whoopi Goldberg, Katherine McNamara, Irene Bedard, Jovan Adepo, Gordon Cormier
- TMDB rating: 5.7/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1831804/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: bleak, dread-filled, epic, hopeful, eerie

## What critics say

Audience reception is negative, with viewers faulting the miniseries for departing from Stephen King's novel and for politicized, box-checking storytelling.

## Synopsis

The Stand (2020-2021) is an American apocalyptic horror miniseries created by Benjamin Cavell and Josh Boone for CBS All Access, adapted from Stephen King's novel. Its nine episodes follow Stu Redman (James Marsden) and Frannie Goldsmith (Odessa Young), two of the few people left alive after a plague has wiped out most of the population. Their journey draws them toward the 108-year-old Mother Abagail (Whoopi Goldberg), a spiritual figure who seems to be gathering the survivors to a stand against evil. Opposing them is Randall Flagg (Alexander Skarsgård), the Dark Man, a smiling figure with unsettling powers who recruits his own followers across a ravaged American wilderness. The engine of the series is the slow gathering of ordinary people into two camps, with each episode mixing road-trip wandering, quiet fellowship, and sudden eruptions of menace. The show is a single continuous story told across one season of nine hour-long episodes, with a grim, dread-filled tone and a sense of biblical scale. Its mood moves between desolate and hopeful, and its theme of elemental good versus evil gives it a mythic register. Fans of The Walking Dead, Under the Dome, and Stephen King's It will find resonance in its blend of pandemic devastation, supernatural stakes, and an ensemble of survivors.

## Shows like The Stand

- [The Wheel of Time (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/62744)
- [Storm of the Century (1999)](https://ember.film/tv/4774)
- [Outcast (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/56980)
- [The Stand (1994)](https://ember.film/tv/8383)
- [War of the Worlds (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/73365)
- [Alien: Earth (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/119402)
- [The Last of Us (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/84107)
- [Teacup (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/163275)
- [Castle Rock (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/62137)
- [Midnight Mass (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/82095)

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