Director confirms The Dark Tower is a sequel to the novels

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

It has long been rumored that the upcoming feature film adaptation of Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER wasn't a direct adaptation (no, duh) but rather a whole new adventure altogether.

The theories were all but confirmed when a certain image of a certain gunslinger holding a certain horn was released online. For those who have not read the books, I'll keep all that vague for now.

Anyhow, until today this has all still remained within the realm of theory, but I'm happy to relay that IGN was speaking recently to director Nikolaj Arcel and he finally let drop the final word on the matter: Yes, the film is a sequel to the series of novels by King.

THE DARK TOWER director Nikolaj Arcel:

It is, in fact, a continuation. It is actually a canon continuation. That is exactly what we intended and what Stephen King signed off on.

Well, boom. That solves all that then. Now let's move on to some other things us fans have been wondering. Like who will be in the film and most of all what does King think of the movie from the director's own mouth.

Arcel on which characters will – or will NOT – be in the film:

There are certain elements, certain characters that the fans will be like 'Oh, my God, he's there", like someone from book four suddenly popping up in a small scene. Susannah and Eddie will not be in this film, I can tell you that.

Arcel on Stephen King's reaction to the script and final film:

At one point he said, ‘I have some notes for the script.’ And he sent us a hard copy of the script, with hand-written notes. He was very polite and very respectful. It was always like, ‘Maybe Roland doesn’t talk so much here’. He was the groundskeeper of the characters.

After he saw the film for the first time, he said, ‘This is not exactly my novel but this is very much the spirit and the tone. And I’m very happy.'

And that takes care of that issue as well. So as long as King approves of the film's new direction and enjoyed the final product, now all we have to do is sit back and wait for the film to finally dazzle us to death. Too much hype? Maybe. But I get way too excited for shite.

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THE DARK TOWER film synopsis:

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 is directed by Nikolaj Arcel and stars Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Taylor, Fran Kranz, Jackie Earle Haley, Katheryn Winnick, and Abbey Lee.

THE DARK TOWER hits theaters nationwide August 4th.