Wow, this is unexpected news!
It looks like Amazon's adaptation of Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER is really moving ahead as today we have word via Deadline that the lead role of The Gunslinger himself Roland Deschain has been cast in the form of LEATHERFACE actor Sam Strike. Strike was recently in SyFy's adaptation of George R.R. Martin's Nightflyers but that got canceled recently so Strike is now free to chase The Man in Black across all the deserts he pleases.
And speaking of The Man in Black, Jasper Pääkkönen (Vikings, BlacKkKlansman) may be playing the character – but this has no been confirmed yet. We'll let you know once and if it is though. The project is evidently nearing a formal pilot order at the streaming platform with Glen Mazzara (THE WALKING DEAD, DAMIEN) executive producing and acting as the showrunner.
Sources say it will take place many years before the events depicted in the feature and will
focus on Roland Deschain’s (Strike) origin story – how he first became a gunslinger and got his guns, his first conflict with the man in black, his first love and his first mission as a gunslinger.
This new take on King's multi-novel series which has been in development at Amazon for almost a year and is said to be independent of the film and is meant to be a more faithful retelling of the book. We'll let you know when we hear more!