the-dark-tower-tv-image

With the cinematic adaptation of Stephen King‘s ‘The Dark Tower‘ going full steam ahead, it is easy to forget that there is a tie-in television series in the works as well and we’ve just learned that it will be adapting ‘Wizard and Glass’!

Talk about a nice bit of information to share with King on his 60th birthday.

It should be noted that in a previous breakdown of what we can expect from the first film that this book was specifically mentioned as a flashback and was probably not going to be used in the movies.

Idris Elba (‘Pacific Rim’,’Prometheus’) is set to appear on the series as well as Tom Taylor who is playing Jake Chambers in the film.

MRC and Sony Pictures will be financing a run of 10-13 episodes depending on how the script pans out and the ink is already dry on the contract so this is a done deal. The series is set to shoot in 2017 and premiere in 2018 when the film is set to hit VOD services though no network announcement has been made at this time.

With MRC already having content on Netflix with ‘House of Cards,’ it wouldn’t be too surprising to see a deal reached there.

While Elba and Taylor will be involved, anyone familiar with ‘Wizard and Glass’ also knows that this is more of a story out of Roland’s past so expect them to be on screen mainly as narration of The Gunslinger telling Jake his story. We’ll likely see a much younger actor cast to take on the part of Roland when events are being retold.

At this time there is no word as to if Matthew McConaughey will be reprising his role here. While he was in the novel, it is something which could easily be written around. Also, it should be noted that the immortal Man in Black can take on many forms so another actor could fill in here though I’m sure we’d all appreciate McConaughey stepping in if that is the case.

According to Akiva Goldsman:

“In the movie, Roland is suffering tremendous loss. The most concrete, personal, existential heartbreak a character can have. If the movie chronicles his final reach toward hope again, the TV show is the loss of that hope.”

Honestly, with the amount of story that King has put into this series it makes sense to use these seasons as backstories and subplots that would take away from the rigid timeline that they have for a feature film. Not only that, but there is plenty of backstory and other tales to tell so we could easily see another season if this first one and the first film have the quality and ratings that we all hope they do.

Personally, I’m thrilled to hear that we’ll be getting at least a single season of tie-in content that will be closely knit together by the original actors. This kind of a framework to tell stories from the past will be fun to watch if executed correctly.

Are you looking forward to ‘The Dark Tower’ and its companion series? Share your thoughts below!

‘The Dark Tower’ is set to open its doors in theaters everywhere on February 17th, 2017.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

horizontal line

Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!