Reviews be damned! Media Right Capital and Sony Picture Television are moving forward with their plans to bring their adaptation/sequel/¯\_(ツ)_/¯ of Stephen King’s Fantasy series ‘The Dark Tower’ to television. They also have apparently found their fearless leader to continue the adventures of the Gunslinger and the Man in Black. Glen Mazzara of ‘Walking Dead’ fame will be acting as showrunner for the the 10-13 episode first season. The series is scheduled to begin production next year and is planning to bring over Idris Elba (‘Star Trek: Beyond’, ‘Luther’), Dennis Haysbert (’24’, ‘Far From Heaven’) & newcomer Tom Taylor from the Nikolaj Arcel film. Akiva Goldsman, who helped pen the film, will be attached to the show as Exec. Producer.
Mazzara explained enthusiasm for the potential series with The Hollywood Reporter, saying:
“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 and 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!”
As our own Jeff Owens stated in his review of the film, the best version of this story would be “a dense television series like Game of Thrones”, and hopefully that’s what Mazzara and everyone can deliver. Hardcore fans of the books had to have been near heartbroken to watch thousands of pages of fiction turn into a 90 minute quasi-adaptation. It is worth noting though, that given the unimpressive opening the film is expected to have and the previously mentioned negative reviews, the dream for a Dark Tower series might be fading away with each passing day.
