Nikolaj Arcel says that The Dark Tower TV series is still in the works

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Fans of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" novels have been waiting for quite some time to see the long-running series get the big-screen adaptation, and with Nikolaj Arcel's THE DARK TOWER due to hit theaters later this week, you would think that there would be much rejoicing, but sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. I should mention that I haven't yet gotten around to reading "The Dark Tower" series, but it feels like I'm not alone in finding much of what we've seen from the film to be a little underwhelming. I'm a big fan of both Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, but unfortunately there's not much else on display to draw me in, and enthusiasm for the film seems to be quite low, which, with the premiere just days away, isn't a great sign.

However, the grand plan to spread THE DARK TOWER across multiple platforms is far from dead, as Nikolaj Arcel told IndieWire that The Dark Tower TV series is still in the works. For those who need a quick refresher, it has long been the plan for the gaps between the DARK TOWER movies to be filled by a TV series, which Arcel confirms will be "totally canon." We'll have to wait and see what sort of reception THE DARK TOWER receives, and perhaps more importantly, how much money it makes, but that hasn't stopped Arcel from continuing his work.

It’s being written. I was part of writing the pilot, like the first season ideas and the pilot and the second episode. It’s gonna be awesome. What was exciting about that, whereas with the film, we were really trying to create an introduction and make a standalone film that could sort of live in itself, but what was also exciting, working on the TV show at the same time, is that is totally canon… We’re going back in the past. It’s very, very closely adhering to the ‘Wizard and Glass’ novel and parts of ‘The Gunslinger’ novel. That was exciting to be even more like, ‘Okay, now we’re going to be able to even lift lines directly, or like [write] characters exactly as they are. Which, as a fan, was exciting in a different way.

Although I'm not nearly as invested in THE DARK TOWER as some of you, I'm still holding out hope that the film will surprise me, because it'd be a damn shame if years and years of development hell came to an end with a sub-par movie which teased the beginnings of something larger.

The official synopsis for THE DARK TOWER:

There are other worlds than these. Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, the ambitious and expansive story from one of the world’s most celebrated authors, makes its launch to the big screen. The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.

THE DARK TOWER will hit theaters on August 4, 2017.