The Dark Tower series could be Stephen King’s greatest work that most people will never see. For those that don’t know, the eight books and one novella follow the last gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and his Ka-tet as they pursue the mysterious Dark Tower and various ridiculous villains like a riddle-spouting evil locomotive. It’s King at his finest, which means it has complex characters, a mix of horror and gunplay, and doesn’t end horribly. Why no one will see it though is that it’s a huge undertaking, as it involves a lot of expensive settings for a story that the general population isn’t familiar with.
Any true Dark Tower fan will tell you that waiting for a movie or TV series adaptation has been a roller coaster of emotions. It’s like a sitcom “will they, won’t they” — it seems like every few years it’s going to happen, only for the rug to be pulled out from under it and our hopes dashed. The first serious talks of adapting the books started in 2007, when King was impressed by J.J. Abrams and sold him the rights for only $19. Unfortunately, Abrams left the project in 2009, and we were left without a Dark Tower made of smoke and lens flares. His Lost buddies Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse were also involved, but they also passed since they couldn’t commit to the Noah’s ark-level adaptation.
Next up was Ron Howard with aspirations for a Dark Tower movie and TV combo, and they even found several different Rolands, including Javier Bardem and Russell Crowe. But that fell through because of nervous backers, which led to a few more years without a Tower.
In January 2014, we got a glimpse of what could be when concept art and footage leaked, and Aaron Paul said he’d been in talks to play Eddie Dean — because we could all use a more bitchin’, methed-up Eddie. But again, we had to wait. FINALLY, this year, a glimmer of hope appeared when Sony and MRC confirmed funders and Nikolaj Arcel as director. Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey are even in talks to play Roland and the Man in Black.
Although it seem to be really happening this time, I’ll believe it when I see it. Are you excited for this potential film/series, or are you as jaded as me?
