Ahead of its release, the signs were all pointing to
The Dark Tower movie being something very special indeed. It was attempting to do something new with the epic series of Stephen King novels by also seving as a sequel of sorts to the books, but when it finally reached theaters...well, we were all disappointed.
Now, a new version is in the works courtesy of Amazon Prime and the two lead roles have been cast today. Sam Strike (
Nightflyers) will play The Gunslinger, while Jasper Pääkkönen (
BlacKkKlansman) is set to play Marten, a.k.a. The Man in Black.
Completely independent of the movie, Elba will clearly no longer be making an appearance and it's said that we're getting a much more faithful take on the material. In fact, it's being reported that
"it will take place many years before the events depicted in the feature and will focus on Roland Deschain's origin story – how he first became a gunslinger and got his guns, his first conflict with the man in black, his first love and his first mission as a gunslinger."
While some fans are likely to be disappointed that we're not getting an adaptation of the core story in the books (instead, it sounds like the material featured in flashbacks will be expanded on), this has some potential and already appears to be an improvement.
What do you guys think? As always, be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section.