The Dark Tower TV Series Release Date, Story Details, and Everything Else We Know

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The Dark Tower TV series is in development at Amazon, according to Deadline. While the series was originally planned to tie into the 2017 film, that is no longer the plan, according to Stephen King in an interview with Vulture. 

"The TV series they’re developing now … we’ll see what happens with that. It would be like a complete reboot, so we’ll just have to see," said King.

Glen Mazzara, who previously helmed The Walking Dead season 3, has been brought on as showrunner. Akiva Goldsman, who produced and co-wrote the film adaptation, will executive produce, along with Jeff Pinkner, Ron Howard, and Brian Grazer. Nikolaj Arcel, who directed The Dark Tower movie, and screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen wrote a script for the pilot and will also executive produce. 

Of course, it's unclear if Amazon plans to move forward with Arcel and Jensen's script now that the film has turned out to be a failure. That pilot was said to feature Idris Elba, who played Roland in the movie, and Tom Taylor, who played Jake. It's unclear what their involvement will be at this point. Mazzara might prefer to start from scratch completely. 

 

MRC and Sony Pictures, who also released the film in 2017, will finance a 10-13 episode first season.

Here's everything else we know:

The Dark Tower TV Series Release Date

EW had confirmed that the TV series would begin filming in 2017, with a potential premiere in 2018. As we've heard little about the show since the release of poorly received film, it's probably safe to say that the release date might be pushed back just a bit.

The Dark Tower TV Series Showrunner

THR reports that former Walking Dead exec producer Glen Mazzara will serve as showrunner for The Dark Tower TV series.

"I’ve been a Stephen King fan for decades and the opportunity to adapt The Dark Tower as a TV series is a great honor," Mazzara told THR. "The events of The Gunslinger, Wizard & Glass, The Wind Through the Keyhole, and other tales need a long format to capture the complexity of Roland's coming of age — how he became the Gunslinger, how Walter became the Man in Black, and how their rivalry cost Roland everything and everyone he ever loved. I could not be more excited to tell this story. It feels like being given the key to a treasure chest. And oh yeah, we’ll have billy-bumblers!"

Mazzara's involvement is definitely great news. He's responsible for what is arguably the greatest season of The Walking Dead after taking over for Frank Darabont in season 3. Hopefully, he'll bring a bit of his magic to The Dark Tower. 

The showrunner has also been attached to a prequel to The Shining called The Overlook Hotel for some time. No news on that front, though. 

The Dark Tower TV Series Details

The show will reportedly flesh Roland's origin story and his first adventure as a young gunslinger from the fourth book in the series, Wizard and Glass. 

In 2017, MRC released a cool promo that teases the setting of the show. It's a map of the different places in the Barony of Mejis, where most of Wizard and Glass takes place: 

Roland's instructor, Cort, and his original ka-tet, Cuthbert and Alain, will appear on the show, although none of those roles have been cast yet.