Next year, Stephen King fans will finally get to see the author’s epic world from The Dark Tower come to life on the big screen, when the first movie in a planned trilogy hits theaters on February 17, 2017. The novel series was initially set up as a movie trilogy with a limited TV series airing in between the movies, and it seems that plan is still in place, with the TV show still in development. As it turns out, the ambitious plan laid out by producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer may actually come to fruition with both the movies and TV show.
Originally, Ron Howard and his Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer had set up this sprawling adaptation at Universal Pictures. The studio had green lit the movie trilogy, with NBC set to air two limited TV series between the films, to flesh out this immense world even more. The studio eventually dropped the project, and after several months, Sony Pictures picked it back up, teaming with Media Rights Capital to finance both the show and the TV series. We haven’t heard anything about the TV show since then, but in an interview with Deadline, Ron Howard confirmed it’s still in the works.
“We’re developing the television part, now. We don’t know what platform it will be on at this point, but we’re developing the content in hopes for more movies that will cover the epic and the characters involved.”
It was also recently confirmed that The Dark Tower is not exactly a straight-up adaptation. Director Nikolaj Arcel explained in July that this project is in fact a sequel, that will set up a new “cinematic origin story.” Many fans speculated this was the case, after set photos surfaced showing Roland Deschain, a.k.a. The Gunslinger (Idris Elba) possessing the Horn of Eld, which he has at the very end of Stephen King’s final novel. Idris Elba himself teased that his iconic character is somewhat “lost” when we first see him in this movie, and that he’s lost his sense of purpose as a protector.
Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner wrote the screenplay adaptation for The Dark Tower director Nikolaj Arcel, but we don’t know for sure if the writers and director are also shaping the TV series. No plot details have been given for the TV series quite yet, and it isn’t known if actors from the movies will be featured, or if it will follow completely different characters. With the February release for The Dark Tower just around the corner, hopefully we’ll hear more about the TV show soon.