Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' Set For Film Trilogy, TV Series

[YellowKing]

Yeah I'm really looking forward to this. Young Roland was actually the best part of the entire Dark Tower series, especially combined with the comics. And really something like this lends itself much better to a streaming network episodic series.

[Smoove_B]

Despitethe movie (which I haven't seen and don't want to watch), the Amazon pilot is chugging forward

10 months later, now it's dead:

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has passed on The Dark Tower pilot. The adaptation of Stephen King’s book came from executive producer/showrunner Glen Mazzara and MRC. The production company is shopping the two original scripts that were the basis for the pilot pickup, sources said.

...

The Dark Tower TV series was designed to be independent from the 2017 film and was meant to be a more faithful retelling of the book than the movie was. It takes place many years before the events depicted in the feature and focused on the origin story of Roland Deschain’s (Sam Strike) – how he first became a gunslinger and got his guns, his first conflict with the man in black (Jasper Pääkkönen), his first love and his first mission as a gunslinger.

The cast of the pilot, which was never officially announced or confirmed, also is believed to have included Michael Rooker, Jerome Flynn and Joana Ribeiro.

[ImLawBoy]

I watched the movie last night. It was a complete mess, didn't make much sense, incorporated random elements from the books without explaining them, took massive deviations from the books, and . . . . I kind of liked it?

Don't get me wrong, this was an objectively bad movie. It had decent production values, a good cast, and I actually liked the random references to the series. And I liked watching McConaughey chew the scenery. I definitely don't recommend the movie, but you should also watch it if you're a few beers in like I was last night.

[Buatha]

It's too bad they didn't trust the source material enough to attempt The Gunslinger as its own entity with maybe some references to Wizard and Glass.

I can't figure out why Hollywood fails to see the successes of movies sticking close to the source material, and if necessary, altering it just enough to make it practical and not "reinventing" the character.

[JCC]

Well, given how horrible books 6 and 7 were, I hope any future movie(s)/TV full adaptation will deviate far from the books when they get to that point in the story!

[Buatha]

You certainly have a point.

He definitely threw a rod after Wolves of the Calla. I loved the first four books, Wolves was decent...but then the rest wasn't nearly so good.

With that said, they work on the first four books and figure out a better conclusion in 10 years.

[JCC]

So, I bought the movie around 3 years ago for about $5. Never got around to watching it until tonight. To say it deviates from the books would be a massive understatement. Still... I kind of liked it. Idris made for a pretty good Roland. The kid who played Jake was good. Matthew was... Matthew. A good actor who seems to be in on the joke that this is all nonsense. I guess even a faithful adaptation of the Dark Tower would probably fall way short - and has I noted before I would WANT them to deviate greatly when they get to the end... This one deviating far away from it was just entertaining fluff.

I really wish SK would just utter a mea culpa and rewrite the last 2.05 books. (ie. change things right before they find the Salem's Lot book at the end of book 5.)

[Isgrimnur]

Maybe he needs to get run over by another car.

[Buatha]

Well played, sir.

[Carpet_pissr]

I really wish SK would just utter a mea culpa and rewrite the last 2.05 books. (ie. change things right before they find the Salem's Lot book at the end of book 5.)

I would read that. Hell, I enjoyed 90% of the whole series so much, I might even re-read the whole thing with the new ending tacked on.

What's Brandon Sanderson doing these days?

[Smoove_B]

Was dead, now alive:

EXCLUSIVE: This is a pivotal moment for Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy’s Intrepid Pictures, which the duo launched in 2004. After six years creating and producing for Netflix, including the last four under an overall deal, the duo behind The Haunting TV franchise and Midnight Mass are moving to Amazon Studios. Additionally, they are taking on their most ambitious project to date: a screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, which creator Flanagan envisions as a TV series to run for five seasons, followed by two stand-alone features.

I know opinions vary, but given the other adaptations on Amazon (LotR, WoT), I am hopeful this is a good fit.

[ImLawBoy]

Amazon certainly seems to have taken the long view on Rings of Power, but that's probably partially due to the massive up front investment. Still, I'm hopeful they'd have more patience than the fickle folks at Netflix.

[YellowKing]

It's the only way to do the story justice, and given what they've done with other epics I have no reason to believe they can't do it justice. Anything, ANYTHING, has to be better than the movie.

[malchior]

I'm guarded on this. It's a hard one to get right but it seems like the right studio to try it at the moment.

[Carpet_pissr]

OMG YAASSSSSS, KING!! (as my kids would say, well, the younger ones).

I didn't even watch the movie because I care too much for the OG material (both the books and the graphic novels).

Cannot. Wait.

[JCC]

I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call the movie a faithful adaptation by any means. But, I will say I didn't completely hate it.

I think a multi-season show is the best way to go. And, I dearly hope they have the guts to give us an ending more satisfying than the one King did. I loved the Dark Tower books for decades (particularly 2, 3, 4, (almost all of) 5, and Wind Through the Keyhole, but books 6 and 7 (plus the very end of book 5) still leave a very bad taste in my mouth.

[Smoove_B]

I honestly don't care if the last three books of the original 7 aren't made. I need to see the first four and would likely die happy if the last thing I saw was the TV adaptation of Book #4. To this day it's still the book I've read the most and I still think it's the best in the series. If they can figure out a way to then take 5-7 and "fix" or condense it into a final season and film the ending (which I loved, for the record), that's ideal for me. As established, what I want matters most.

[Jaymann]

I was so disappointed with book one I didn't continue. Can someone convince mo to carry on?

[Smoove_B]

If you don't want to know what's happening after the first book, I'm not sure anyone is going to convince you of anything. It just might not be your thing. But in terms of setting up the bigger picture and what you can expect overall? That first book is fantastic.

What didn't you like?

[JCC]

I think not liking book 1 the first time through is understandable. The series didn't hook me until book 2. King did go back and revise book 1 as well later on (IIRC). I will say book 1 works for me better on repeated readings.

[Smoove_B]

He did revise it but they're minor, minor changes - things to retcon given the insane amount of time between the books.

The only book I've read more than #4 is #1. It's so damn good.

[ImLawBoy]

I'd think that if you didn't like the first book, you're probably not going to like the rest. I'll agree with Smoove that 1 and 4 are the best of the bunch.

I also didn't hate the movie (although I didn't think it was terribly good, either). Looking at it from the perspective that it wasn't directly adapting the books but was instead a different spin of the wheel helped.

[YellowKing]

I don't know if anyone here listens to the Kingcast podcast, but their May 27,2020 episode was all about the (then) abandoned Amazon Dark Tower series. And it sounded freaking INCREDIBLE. Glen Mazarra was to be the showrunner on that one, and he clearly understood the material. I'm really hoping some of those same ideas carry over to this new iteration.

[msteelers]

I’m still partial to the idea of the movies sort of picking up where the books left off.

Spoiler:

it’s been awhile, but doesn’t the series end with Roland back at the beginning of the series, but with the horn needed to finally accomplish his mission?