I'm excited for THE DARK TOWER movie like nobody's business. Everything I've seen so far looks so cool, from Idris Elba's Roland looking like a badass Steampunk Blade, Matthew McConaughey (or as I like to call him Matthew ctrl+c/ctrl+v) rocking it as Randall Flagg, and the whole fusion fantasy/Western vibe. While I have yet to read the books, everything I've heard about it – demons, parallel universes, cowboy knights – all sounds right up my alley.
And it looks like more DARK TOWER will be on the way sooner than later! While the prospect of a sequel seems at this point dependent on the success of the first one, the production team is already hard at work developing a television series based on the fourth book in the series, WIZARD AND GLASS, which will expand upon Roland's (Idris Elba) backstory and Mid-World (the parallel universe that he's from).
The fact that this is a prequel detailing Roland's origin unfortunately necessitates a younger actor to play the role (meaning Elba will most likely not be involved in the TV show). As well, the team is looking for a distributor (currently seeking streaming sites or cable networks), hoping to get the show out in 2018 in time for the home release of the film.
This all sounds great to me. The idea of a TV show coinciding with the production of the film is something that was always part of the package (even back when Ron Howard was attached to direct), so it's nice to see it all come to fruition. While adaptations of Stephen King's works have been hit-or-miss (for every SHINING and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, there's a MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE and LANGOLIERS), THE DARK TOWER seems to be made for the silver screen. While the story is expansive, the fact that it has so many cool visual ideas and such an epic scope I think makes it fit better as an adaptation then some of King's other stories. Let's hope this is one of the good ones.
THE DARK TOWER, directed by Nikolaj Arcel, will be released February 17th, 2017.
So you guys excited? And anything in particular from the books you'd like to see on screen?
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