I Am Thrilled “The Stand” Is Coming Back and Dystopia Makes Me Feel Hopeful

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There are two types of people in this world: Those who think inhaling dystopic fiction during a time of national crisis, environmental chaos, and global pandemic verges on insanity—and those who can’t get enough of speculative renderings of our eventual collapse.

For those in the second category, get pumped for December 17, when CBS airs the first of nine episodes of The Stand, yet another mini-series version of Stephen King’s 1978 post-apocalyptic classic about a future in which most humans have been wiped out by an engineered flu. King even wrote a new ending for the story, which is partially set in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado, and features characters played by Amber Heard, Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgard, and Jovan Adepo.

And, hey, by the time we reach December, this dark fantasy probing the limits of evil and human decency might even feel downright optimistic. “Over the last however-many years, we have sort of taken for granted the structure of democracy,” co-creator Benjamin Cavell told Vogue. “Now, so much of that is being ripped down to the studs. It’s interesting to see a story about people who are rebuilding it from the ground up.” Who needs kettle corn when you have sweet, sweet catharsis? —Maddie Oatman

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In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

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