“Dark Tower” TV Series to Start Production Soon?

Despite the failure of The Dark Tower in theaters, it looks like the TV series is going forward, with filming set to begin sometime this summer.The series already has a showrunner (Glenn Mazzara of The Walking Dead) and may already be in the process of casting.

According to Omega Underground, production will begin in a few months in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the unusual landscapes of which are also used to create the continent of Westros for Game of Thrones, another epic fantasy series.

The Dark Tower is a series of seven novels by Stephen King which focus on Roland Deschain. He is a “Gunslinger” (sort of a cross between a cowboy and a knight) from an alternate universe called Mid-World, a post-apocalyptic setting with lost magic and technology strewn about. Roland seeks to find the Dark Tower, the nexus of all universes, and save it from the Crimson King, who wants to remake creation in his own distorted image.

It is a very complicated series full of dimension hopping, and which crosses over with a huge number of King’s other works. A film based on the series came out last summer, and did poorly at the box office. It adapted the source material rather loosely, and many feel that it was trying so hard to be a mainstream action flick that it failed to explain the books’ complicated mythology.

According to King, the TV series will be something of a reboot that ignores the unsuccessful movie; also, it will apparently focus on the plot of the series’ fourth book, Wizard and Glass, most of which is a prequel about Roland’s life long before the main events of the series. While this may help to separate it from the film, it could also alienate fans who want to see the series’ other main characters (Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy), none of whom were born to experience those events with Roland.

If this series is going to focus on a teenage Roland, it will presumably not include his film actor, Idris Elba—that, or it will give him a different part (Roland’s father?). This is sort of a pity, since he has said that he would like to continue playing Roland in the sequels that will probably not get made anymore.