Despite all of the roadblocks put in front of it, Ron Howard’s adaptation of Stephen King’s THE DARK TOWER is not quite dead yet. Earlier today, Howard tweeted the following:
As a huge DARK TOWER fan, I am excited by even the smallest tidbit of proof that the movie/series may actually happen. Ron Howard was not even on my list of choices to adapt the saga of Roland Deschain and his Ka-Tet, but I can truly see his optimism and love of the material.
Plot: In the story, Roland Deschain is the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers and the last of the line of “Arthur Eld”, his world’s analogue of King Arthur. Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West but is also magical. Many of the magical aspects have vanished from Mid-World, but traces remain as do relics from a technologically advanced society. Roland’s quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to be the nexus of all universes. Roland’s world is said to have “moved on”, and it appears to be coming apart at the seams. Mighty nations have been torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish without a trace and time does not flow in an orderly fashion. Sometimes, even the sun rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland’s motives, goals and age are unclear, though later installments shed light on these mysteries.
Javier Bardem is still linked to the series and no word has come down officially cancelling the project. Akiva Goldsman is Ron Howard’s go-to screenwriter and Erica Huggins is a producer who has worked most recently with Clint Eastwood on J. EDGAR.
Ron Howard is still working with Warner Bros. and HBO to bring the series to television and theaters as a multi-platform release. Hopefully things work out this time. While this is still incredibly early in the process, it is nice to see that Howard has not given up yet!