We're deep in the midsts of a Stephen King renaissance. Not only is the reigning king of horror offering us a brand-new, scary-as-hell take on his classic It, according to The Hollywood Reporter, King's Dark Tower saga will be heading to TV after hitting the big screen this week.
Fans of the Dark Tower series, which spans eight books, know that it's more epic fantasy-meets-western than horror, so having it on television may be the perfect thing for fans of other epic fantasy and western shows while they wait between seasons.
While the movie itself took almost a decade to get made (it jumped from director to director and studio to studio), Sony knew that the movie would be the beginning of a much larger universe.
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"It's just an introduction to the world; it's not the whole world or all the books," Tom Rothman, chairman of Sony Motion Picture Group, told THR. "The credit goes to MRC, [screenwriter] Akiva [Goldsman] and Nikolaj Arcel — I think they were the ones that cracked it creatively and realized that the way to do it is not to try to eat the entire feast all at once, but to maybe just start with the first course."
So while the film is merely an appetizer to whet the appetites of viewers, it did manage to set up what fans know is a very complex and involved world of shifting loyalties, epic battles, and a little bit of personal intrigue (Sound familiar?). The show would focus on the origin story of gunslinger Roland (Idris Elba), so it won't interfere with any potential sequels on the big screen.
It's safe to assume that stars Elba and Matthew McConaughey won't be making regular appearances, but THR did note that Elba is set to have a cameo in the series, which hasn't been attached to any specific network — or streaming service — just yet.
The move puts The Dark Tower in Marvel territory, with television shows (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., various Netflix series, and Inhumans) existing in the same universe as feature films.
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