There is already negative word of mouth going around about the Stephen King adaptation THE DARK TOWER, which opens in theatres tomorrow (or tonight, if your local cinema does early screenings), and that's not too surprising. The movie has been looking underwhelming to me for a while now, and the fact that this introduction to the world of King's largest literary epic wraps up in just 95 minutes wasn't encouraging. It has taken 35 years for the Dark Tower story to make its way from the page to the screen, and maybe a 95 minute movie that isn't actually an adaptation of any of the novels wasn't the best way to kick off a movie/TV series franchise.
We'll see how well THE DARK TOWER does at the box office, but in the meantime development of a TV series that actually is based on the novels is underway. That series now has a showrunner in Glen Mazzara, who is best known in genre circles for his work on The Walking Dead. Mazzara took over as showrunner during the second season of The Walking Dead when Frank Darabont made his exit from the show, then left the show himself after season three.
The idea is that the first season of the Dark Tower TV show will run for 10 or 13 episodes. Producers Media Rights Capital and Sony Pictures Television are hoping to find the series a home on cable or streaming outlets and would like to go into production in 2018.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Mazzara had this to say about getting involved with The Dark Tower:
I’ve been a Stephen King fan for decades and the opportunity to adapt The Dark Tower as a TV series is a great honor. The events of The Gunslinger, Wizard & Glass, The Wind Through the Keyhole, and other tales need a long format to capture the complexity of Roland's coming of age — how he became the Gunslinger, how Walter became the Man in Black, and how their rivalry cost Roland everything and everyone he ever loved. I could not be more excited to tell this story. It feels like being given the key to a treasure chest. And oh yeah, we’ll have billy-bumblers!"
THE DARK TOWER stars Idris Elba, Dennis Haysbert, and Tom Taylor – who play the gunslinger Roland Deschain, Roland's father Steven, and Roland's protégé Jake Chambers, respectively – will be reprising their roles on the show. The series will primarily focus on a younger Roland, so Elba will be handing the character over to a different actor for the bulk of it.
The series is being executive produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer of Imagine TV, alongside Akiva Goldsman and Gregory Lessans of Weed Road Pictures. THE DARK TOWER director Nikolaj Arcel and co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen are working together on the script.
Here's hoping the series will be a satisfying adaptation.