You can’t get much bigger than this. Stephen King’s DARK TOWER has been described by many, including King himself, as a latter-day answer to THE LORD OF THE RINGS. So it’s appropriate that this long-in-development movie deal for the series would ultimately rival, if not outright outdo, the ambition of the LOTR film trilogy. Deadline’s saying that Ron “Opie” Howard and Akiva Goldsman are finally getting to go ahead with both a planned movie trilogy and a two-season-long TV show adapting the books. Prior to this, J.J. Abrams and his LOST pals had been working on a treatment after famously getting the rights from King for 19 bucks but, obviously, that didn’t work out.
It’s the second season of the TV show that’s going to be most relevant to fans of those DT comics Marvel’s been putting out over the last few years. The release schedule’s going to consist of three movies coming out over three years, with the TV seasons filling the time in between. They haven’t specific just how the series will be broken up over all of these, but they have said that season #2 will explore Roland’s reckless youth as it's been detailed in WIZARD & GLASS and in the comics. == TEASER ==
I'm big fan of all things DARK TOWER. Putting on the fantasy producer's hat, were I to divvy this all up, I'd probably have the first movie adapt the GUNSLINGER, use the first season to cover DRAWING OF THE THREE and THE WASTELANDS, have the second movie encompass WOLVES OF THE CALLA and the non-flashback sections of WIZARD & GLASS and then save SONG OF SUSANNAH and the last book for the final movie.
Anyway, even though Howard’s trying to get to working on this as soon as possible now, I’m sure it’s going to be a long while before we get any kind of casting announcements. Who would you Comic Vine maniacs want to see play the legendary Roland Deschain?
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.