It seems the TV series based on The Dark Tower is still being developed at Amazon. The Dark Tower is based on an epic series of novels by Stephen King, and the story follows a Gunslinger in a fantasy world as he tries to reach the mythical tower. Along the way, he faces off with his mortal enemy The Man In Black and various other supernatural threats. Fans of the series waited decades for a movie version, but given the scope of the story, financing a film version proved tricky.

Ron Howard tried for years to get it moving and even pitched an insanely ambitious idea to tell one coherent story over the course of multiple movies and TV shows. Ultimately, Nikolaj Arcel took over the director's chair for the 2017 movie, with Idris Elba playing the central role and Matthew McConaughey hamming up a storm as The Man In Black. Unfortunately, it wasn't worth the wait and proved to be a critical and commercial disappointment. The grim box-office numbers have all but killed chances for a sequel, but a TV series – which was announced before the film was released – is still clinging to life.

Amazon announced they were developing The Dark Tower show in February, but author Stephen King previously suggested it could be a reboot instead of a continuation of the movie. Little has been heard about the project recently, but according to an interview with Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke for Deadline, it's still on the boil.

Those are scripts that I haven’t gotten yet. I’ll be seeing those, that material, in the coming weeks. None of those things are dead. They’re very much alive.


If the show does go ahead, it will likely start fresh and avoid any connection to the movie. This is something of a shame because whatever the faults of The Dark Tower movie might be, Elba made for a generally great Roland Deschain. The actor has previously said he's the last to know about the show and is still hoping for a movie sequel, but time will tell what direction Amazon take the show – if they even move forward with it.

2017 proved to be a busy year for adaptations of Stephen King's work, including high-profile examples like IT and Gerald's Game, but The Dark Tower disappointed many. The author himself feels that watering down the darkness of the book and making a PG-13 movie contributed to the movie not working, and hopes to avoid making that mistake with the show.