Stephen King says that The Dark Tower won’t exactly be by the book

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

THE DARK TOWER is one of those projects that I feel as if I've been covering and following forever. Once upon a time, I was really excited about the ambitious vision Ron Howard had for adapting Stephen King's work between feature films and miniseries… and those plans feel as if they were in place lifetimes ago. THE DARK TOWER has morphed and changed over the years and… look… it's finally in production, and we'll be getting a film early next year. But it might be a little different than what fans are expecting. 

Stephen King himself recently appeared on Anthony Breznican's EW podcast to discuss the shape THE DARK TOWER has taken as a movie… and suffice to say, you aren't going to be getting a by-the-book adaptation of the series.

It starts sort of in medias res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning, which may upset some of the fans a little bit. But they will get behind it, because it is the story.

Now it appears Akiva Goldsman's script does do quite a bit of jumping around, combining elements of several of THE DARK TOWER novels into this first movie (there still is no guarantee of more than this film being made just yet), and while fans may not be happy about that because it's not the books, sometimes changes have to be made in order to made the transition work from page to screen. King believes fans will be fine with what's been done, because, at the heart of THE DARK TOWER is the very work they have rallied around for years. 

King is willing to offer an olive branch to the enthusiastic hopefuls who have their fingers crossed this will turn out okay in the end, and it has to do with how the film ultimately begins. 

I expect that the movie will start where the books start. Y'know, 'The man in black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.' I think that nails it right in place for people…I've been pretty insistent on that, and I think everyone's onboard with it.

Now, if THE DARK TOWER opens and you get something different from that, then go ahead and be instantly concerned… but for now, King is saying all the right things to ease the troubled minds of THE DARK TOWER fans who are fearing the worst way too early in the process. 

THE DARK TOWER opens in theaters on February 23, 2017.