Station Eleven is an award-winning novel by Emily St. John Mandel released in 2014. It takes place in the Great Lakes region before and after a swine flu pandemic, known as the “Georgia Flu”, has devastated the world, killing most of the population.

The novel is currently being adapted to the small screen as a 10-part limited series coming to HBO Max. Production began in early 2020, but was then delayed due to the pandemic, and picked up again this past February.

Originally, filming was slated to wrap in July, just a few weeks from now. But back in April, we reported on two new cast additions, Lori Petty of Tank Girl fame, and Penny Dreadful’s Daniel Zovatto, meaning production may have just been ramping up.

At that point we were still hoping for a 2021 release, but more casting news released last week is making those hopes seem less likely.

In addition to Petty and Zovatto, who are listed as “series regulars”, the recent announcement adds eight more cast members in “recurring guest star” roles.

• Luca Villacis (“Channel Zero: Candle Cove,” “Knuckleball”) as Cody, a teenaged member of The Prophet’s cult.
• Prince Amponsah (“Killjoys,” “The Handmaid’s Tale”) as August, a member of The Traveling Symphony and one of Kirsten’s oldest friends.
• Dylan Taylor (HBO’s “Fahrenheit 451,” “Bad Blood”) as Dan, the newest member of The Traveling Symphony.
• Joe Pingue (“Godless,” “The Expanse”) as Dieter, a trusted confidante of Kirsten in The Traveling Symphony.
• Maxwell McCabe-Lokos (“Tin Star,” “Chaos Walking”) as Vlad, a musician in The Traveling Symphony.
• Ajahnis Charley (“I am Gay,” “Untitled Black Sketch Project”) as Chrysanthemum, the wry conscience of The Traveling Symphony.
• Milton Barnes (“The Flash,” “Locke & Key”) as Miles, a TSA Agent at the Severn City Airport.
• Kate Moyer (“The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Holly Hobbie”) as Haley Butterscotch, a young member of The Prophet’s cult.

Unless they’ve been involved in the production previous to the official press release, you could imagine the filming of their scenes could take several weeks, if not months. Though the fact that they are “guest stars” could mean that their on-screen time is limited, and won’t take long to complete.

Hopefully it’s the latter case, but there has not been an official release date from HBO Max yet, so there’s really no way to know.

Luckily, there will be no dearth of post-apocalyptic television this fall with The Walking Dead returning for its 11th season on August 22 on AMC, season two of See premiering August 27 on Apple TV+, and Y: The Last Man coming to Hulu September 13.

Hopefully, those will be enough to tide us over until we can add Station Eleven to the list of shows to watch.  We’ll pass on the official release date as soon as we get it.