There was a time when turning a lengthy book or series into a film was considered a challenge and a risk that was often only accepted by television studios in favour of a miniseries. The fear of cutting out too much and engaging the wrath of fans was too great. But then in 2001, Peter Jackson demonstrated there was a right — and profitable — way to adapt a book series for multiple theatrical films, beginning with The Lord of the Rings. Since then innumerable stories have been adapted for the screen, the latest being Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower series, which released its first trailer.
Roland Deschain (Idris Elba) is the last remaining gunslinger in Mid-World. He is on a quest to reach the Dark Tower, but first he must kill the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey). He’s chased the treacherous magician for an indeterminate time through the desert and it’s time their story come to an end. During his pursuit, Roland finds Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), a young boy from our New York. They form a bond and it’s clear they’re meant to continue the journey together, but for how long is a mystery.
Based on the scenes in the trailer, the film that’s expected to spawn a TV series draws from at least the first three books in King’s series. The chase is the main plot of book one where Roland meets Jake and closes in on the Man in Black. In the second book, Roland travels to New York, which is essentially a world parallel to his own and on a potentially different timeline. The house containing the portal to Jake’s world is introduced in the third book of the seven-part series.
Fans of King’s work may find it difficult to see all these scenes squeezed into one film, but this movie is being positioned as a sequel to the book series so it provides filmmakers with a fair amount of leeway to change the story as needed. There are obvious Hollywood alterations, such as Jake’s plea to save the billions of lives on Earth, but hopefully these are kept to a minimum. It does include the gunslinger’s mantra as well as intriguing exchanges between Roland and the Man, who seem to be impeccably portrayed by Elba and McConaughey. Nonetheless, all will be answered in August 2017.
