Coinciding with Stephen King’s 69th birthday today, Sony and Media Rights Capital – the production company behind the upcoming movie – have announced that the companion TV series to The Dark Tower is officially a go.
EW is reporting that Sony and MRC have committed to financing a run of between 10 and 13 episodes for the series, which will delve into the backstory of Roland the Gunslinger, using the saga’s fourth book, Wizard and Glass, as its source.
Idris Elba will be reprising his role as Roland from the movie, as will Tom Taylor, who plays Jake Chambers, and will appear as part of a framing device bookending the central story about a younger Roland. The Man in Black will also appear, although they are yet to secure Matthew McConaughey, and another actor may potentially portray the character.
SEE ALSO: Ron Howard on bringing Stephen King’s The Dark Tower to the screen
“In the movie, Roland is suffering tremendous loss. The most concrete, personal, existential heartbreak a character can have,” states Akiva Goldsman, producer and co-writer on the movie. “If the movie chronicles his final reach toward hope again, the TV show is the loss of that hope.”
Scripts for the series are currently being written by the film’s director Nikolaj Arcel and co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen, while Golsman will produce alongside Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Production is slated to get underway next year, with a view to premiering the show in 2018.
The Dark Tower movie is being directed by Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) and stars Idris Elba (Luther) as Roland Deschain, Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar) as the Man in Black, Tom Taylor (Doctor Foster) as Jake Chambers, Abbey Lee (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Tirana, Fran Kranz (The Cabin in the Woods) as Pimli, Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen) as Richard Sayre, Michael Barbieri (Little Men) as Timmy, Claudia Kim (Avengers: Age of Ultron) as Arra Champignon and Katheryn Winnick (Vikings) in an as-yet-unrevealed role. It is set for release on February 17th 2017.
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