The Dark Tower film will serve as a sequel to Stephen King’s books

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

At one point, it looked like the novels in Stephen King's The Dark Tower saga were going to be getting direct adaptations, with the stories being told through both a series of films and a companion television series. Those plans had to be set aside, however, and while the filmmakers hope they will be able to return to those plans and that the story will continue beyond the THE DARK TOWER film that is currently in production, right now that is the only Dark Tower adaptation we're sure to get.

As THE DARK TOWER director Nikolaj Arcel and his screenplay co-writers Anders Thomas Jensen, Akiva Goldsman, and Jeff Pinkner began putting their film together, they appeared to be making some baffling choices, pulling inspiration from the entire series of novels rather than starting at the beginning and working forward, including characters that shouldn't be present if heroic gunslinger Roland Deschain (played in the film by Idris Elba) were in the early stages of his journey to the title location.

Based on the Stephen King-penned fantasy series, THE DARK TOWER will follow a wandering knight who is the last hope of the fallen land of Mid-World. He is charged with finding the Dark Tower while battling his nemesis the Man in Black.

As we shared yesterday, Entertainment Weekly has revealed that THE DARK TOWER is the cover story on their July 22/29 special double issue, and following that announcement they have posted several DARK TOWER articles on their website – interviews with Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, who will be playing Roland's nemesis The Man in Black (and dropped a great Black Sabbath reference during his interview), as well as discussions with King and Arcel.

Since the saga is very special to him, King is working closely with the filmmakers on this one, and they see him as a partner in this endeavor, so much so that he was even given the opportunity to edit the script.

Reading the conversation with Arcel, the choices made for THE DARK TOWER start to make more sense. To explain exactly how, the ending of King's book series has to be spoiled.

SPOILER: At the end of his seven book journey to the Dark Tower, Roland realizes that he has been living in a time loop and has reached the tower many times before. He is forced back in time to the beginning of the first book, made to start all over again with no memory of the journey the readers have been following. But this time there's something different. This time Roland is in possession of the Horn of Eld, an item from his past that he had left behind in the journey readers accompanied him on.

Some Dark Tower fans have realized that the Horn of Eld is in Roland's possession in Arcel's film, and Arcel confirms: "The hardcore fans of The Dark Tower series will know that this is actually a sequel to the books in a way. It has a lot of the same elements, a lot of the same characters, but it is a different journey."

The journey is different every time Roland makes it, so now the fact that the film is sort of a remix of the saga's elements doesn't seem like such a strange thing.

Elba and McConaughey's co-stars include Tom Taylor as Jake Chambers, a young boy who has "The Shine"; Fran Kranz as the Man in Black's right hand man Pimli; Jackie Earle Haley as vampire leader Sayre; Katheryn Winnick in a mystery role; and Abbey Lee as Tirana, who was a minor villain in the climactic Dark Tower book.

THE DARK TOWER is set to reach theatres on February 17, 2017.