Any fans of The Dark Tower here?

[Jason Freeman]

Probably not, but it'd be cool if so. It's a book series by Stephen King for those who don't know and it's an awesome one.

Well, if you didn't hear, though you probably did, they finally figured out what they are goign to do with it. There had been discussion about how they could do a version of that as a movie, or whatever, but now finally they announced what's going to happen.

They are going to do it as both a movie and a TV series at the same time. Basically there will be three movies, each one year apart, most likely over the summer, and then in between each movie there will be a season of the TV show.

This is awesome news as it will allow them to tell the whole massive story without having to do seven films which wouldnt make sense for a variety of reasons, considering A. That's way too long a project for if it doesn't succeed well, and just way too long to wait in general and B. The ages of the characters (especially Jake) Would be screwed up if they did seven movies.

This is a pretty big project, as all the actors would have to be doing both the TV show and the movies, but I dunno. I think this is awesome news and I can't wait to see how they do.

I would assume the best way would be to do the Gunslinger as the first movie, do Drawing of the Three and The Wastelands as the first series, do Wolves of the Calla as the second movie, switching the order with Wizard and Glass, which would be the second series, and then do Song of Suzanna and The Dark Tower in a very long movie to end it. Though there's probably a better way to go about it.

And I probably just wasted my time if nobody here knows anything about any of that.

[El Shadowo]

Big fan of the books. Easily my favorite series of books of all time.

And that's why this news slightly worries me. I know how much potential these stories have to be epic in a movie and TV format, but at the same time, I also know how much potential they have to mess these stories up. I'll be interested to see who they cast and that; any source on the info? And I wonder if they'll have the guts to actually go through the the books' ending

[Jason Freeman]

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS MANY MAJOR SPOILERS AND IF YOU AT ALL CARE TO EVER READ THIS SERIES OR SEE THESE MOVIES, YOU PROABLY SHOULD NOT READ THIS POST.


Honestly, I hope they DO change the ending. I'm not talking so much about the time loop stuff, which was fine albeit slightly stupid. What I hated though was how they dealt with the Crimson King. They build him up but then he's basically nothing, the whole end of the book was a mess. That Patrick guy from that other King book never should have been there, and he ruined the whole ending of the story. It would have been much more emotional and fitting if he had never been there, then at Oy's death, it would leave Roland alone once more, to finish out the end of the book just as he had started it - by himself.

It would be depressing in a way, and it could show the changes in him from the beginning of the Gunslinger to the end of the series. Im not sure how THAT would work in a movie either, but I dunno....they really should ditch the Patrick guy and rewrite the climax. As for the time loop...that'd certainly be a strange ending for the movie. It'd be interesting to see like you said if they had the guts to go through with such a move. But I wouldn't mind them ending it with him calling out the names of those that died and then entering the tower, and leaving out the two next sections, the alternate universe one and the time loop part, both of which I thought were sort of weird.

now, I dunno about casting, but I hope they get a good cast for at least Eddie, Jake (probably the hardest because he's a kid), and Roland. I could care less about Suzannah as I really never liked her. I also wonder whether King will be in it much like he was in the latter books. that'd be strange. I feel like this is going to work much better for the first four books until we get to post-car crash King. But anyways, i couldnt find the original article I read, but here's another one I just found on google search which explains it all. The original source was more official though. This also suggests that they cant really use a big name cast because of the ammount of commitment it would take, but I did read at one point that they wanted somebody big-name for Roland, though who knows?






Stephen King’s epic novel series The Dark Tower is practically begging to be adapted into either a movie or a TV series. Early in 2009 it was reported that J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot production company were going to be bringing the book series to the big-screen. However, late last year Abrams revealed he wouldn’t be adapting the books after all.

But fear not Dark Tower fans as Deadline is reporting that Universal Pictures and NBC Universal have landed a deal to bring King’s epic to life. If it wasn’t exciting enough that King’s “magnum opus” is finally being adapted (for real this time), the adaptation will come to us in the form of not only a whole trilogy of movies but also a coinciding TV series.

How exactly can a TV series coincide with a trilogy of movies? Well, the details are quite complicated when you first look at them but they break down fairly simply if you really study them:

Things will start off with the first in the movie trilogy and then that will be bridged onto the first season of the TV series which will follow fairly quickly thereafter. Then the second movie in the trilogy will follow on from where the first season of the series leaves off. After that second movie is done things will be bridged back to the series for the second season and then once that’s done the story will continue on and conclude with the third part of the movie trilogy.

That’s quite a plan that’s been put together: They’re counting on audiences being willing to go and see the first Dark Tower movie and then jump over to TV to find out what happens next (then doing the same thing again when it comes to the movie sequel and the second season), all the while committing more time and effort to follow the storyline (hour-long episodes week-on-week as opposed to a single 2-3 hour movie). While it may be somewhat risky it nonetheless shows that the people behind the adaptation have commitment and belief in their vision.

As for who’s behind The Dark Tower adaptations on the creative side, Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) will direct the first feature film and the entire first season of the TV series and Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend) while write the first movie and the first season of the series. Both will produce the adaptations along with Howard’s Imagine Entertainment partner, Brian Grazer and Stephen King himself (I guess the author wants to have a hand in seeing this get done right).

Howard and Goldsman first revealed they would be working with Universal to try and adapt The Dark Tower back in April but at the time the studio was battling it out with Warner Bros. for the rights. Evidently Universal has won out but it is said that the deal was so comprehensive that it’s literally taken months to lock it down.

This strategy of taking the much-wanted Dark Tower adaptation completely head-on is being compared to what Peter Jackson did with his Lord of the Rings trilogy, where all three films were shot back-to-back so that they could be released within three years of one another. Because The Dark Tower trilogy of movies will coincide with the TV series (it sounds like you won’t be able to watch one without tuning in for the other), that means the same actors that portray the characters on the big-screen will also have to be there for the small-screen version.

Does this mean we won’t be seeing big name stars (Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Will Smith, etc.) but rather lesser known names that would – most likely – be made into stars as a result of their participation in the Dark Tower franchise? For a story like this I would prefer less famous actors simply because it’s such an immersive and expansive world King has created that I would rather not be distracted by A-listers filling up all the roles.

Crossing platforms like this also means the filmmakers will benefit from using the same crew and sets. This sounds like not only a highly ambitious undertaking (which hasn’t really been done before) but also a very expensive one, so being able to keep the same sets and the talents of the same team throughout both the movies and the TV series will certainly save money where it counts.

It’s certainly encouraging to see the sort of commitment that’s been injected in this gargantuan adaptation. I think most of us can join together in hoping that all this is a success and that it does proper justice to King’s much-loved series of Dark Tower books.

If you want to know more head on over to Deadline to read the thoughts of the people involved.