The Dark Tower TV Show Will Be ‘Totally Canon’

The forthcoming The Dark Tower series will reportedly be a part of the preexisting canon of original novels. Adapted from the eight volume series of books written by best-selling American author Stephen King, the upcoming feature film directed by Nikolaj Arcel will greet viewers later this week, and will be followed by an original TV show based in part on the novel Wizard and Glass.

Starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey as chief protagonist Roland Deschain and the nefarious Man in Black, respectively, The Dark Tower movie is sure to blow general viewers over when it hits theaters this Friday. Ahead of the new movie’s theatrical release, longtime readers of the original novels have been teased with a theatrical adaptation that will contain plenty of references to King’s surrounding body of work – and the latest word has the forthcoming TV show following the original fantasy series even more closely.

According to IndieWire, The Dark Tower TV show will seek to follow the original narrative laid down by King to a tee. Compared to Arcel’s theatrical effort – which will serve as a pseudo-sequel to the original novels – the 10-13 episode original series will be set up as a more direct adaptation of Wizard and Glass in particular. Speaking to the current thinking in crafting the forthcoming production behind the scenes, Arcel stated:

“It’s being written. I was part of writing the pilot, like the first season ideas and the pilot and the second episode. It’s gonna be awesome. What was exciting about that, whereas with the film, we were really trying to create an introduction and make a standalone film that could sort of live in itself, but what was also exciting, working on the TV show at the same time, is that is totally canon.“

In The Dark Tower movie, viewers will be greeted by an aged Roland (Elba) forced to come to terms with a world that has been largely shaped by his past actions. The TV show will then go back into the past – with Wizard and Glass, and portions of The Gunslinger, serving as its narrative template – and tell the story of how Roland became the character he is in the movie, as Arcel explained:

“We’re going back in the past. It’s very, very closely adhering to the ‘Wizard and Glass’ novel and parts of ‘The Gunslinger’ novel. That was exciting to be even more like, ‘Okay, now we’re going to be able to even lift lines directly, or like [write] characters exactly as they are. Which, as a fan, was exciting in a different way.“

By the sound of things, The Dark Tower movie will be followed by an even more exhaustive adaptation of the original novels by way of the TV show. It remains to be seen how either production will be greeted by fans of the series, but here’s to hoping for the very best from both projects in the mean time.

http://screenrant.com/dark-tower-tv-show-canon/