Dark Tower TV series still in the works

April 24th 2017, 1:26pm

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The saga of getting Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER book series to the screen has been almost as epic as The Gunslinger's own quest to reach the titular Dark Tower. If you remember, at one point, director Ron Howard was in talks to direct a series of films based on the books, with a planned TV series bridging the gap in-between the films.

But that didn't happen.

While we are (finally) getting a film adaptation of THE DARK TOWER this summer, word has been quiet on whether the planned TV series was still happening or not. Well, last week at the Tribeca Film Festival, TV Guide spoke with Ron Howard (now a producer on THE DARK TOWER film) and asked him about the TV series.

Ron Howard on THE DARK TOWER TV series:

"Dark Tower is coming out this summer. It's a terrific movie directed by Nikolaj Arcel. And we are working on the television component. That's not a commitment on the television side, but creatively, it could work very well, hand in hand with what we'd like the movies to be."

Basically what Ron Howard is telling us here is that if we all get off our butts and into the theaters this summer for THE DARK TOWER, and make it a hit, then we very well might get our DARK TOWER TV series.

Just knowing that Howard, who seems to be a die-hard fan of the book series, is still working on a potential TV series is cool enough news to me. Howard has a lot of clout in the industry and while his ambitious original plans for THE DARK TOWER fell through if this new flick is a hit, that combined with Howard's pull might just be enough to land the series.

Maybe it could take up the epic fantasy spot on HBO after GAME OF THRONES ends this year…

THE DARK TOWER film synopsis:

Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) is a young 11-year-old adventure seeker who discovers clues about another dimension called Mid-World. Upon following the mystery, he is spirited away to Mid-World where he encounters the lone frontiersman knight Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) who is on a quest to reach the "Dark Tower" that resides in End-World and reach the nexus point between time and space that he hopes will save Mid-World from extinction. But with various monsters and a vicious sorcerer named Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey) hot on their trail, the unlikely duo find that their quest may be difficult to complete.

THE DARK TOWER is directed by Nikolaj Arcel and stars Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Fran Kranz, Jackie Earle Haley, Katheryn Winnick, and Abbey Lee (see below).

THE DARK TOWER hits theaters nationwide August 4th.