“Dark Tower” TV series confirmed, Idris Elba to return as Gunslinger

PanARMENIAN.Net - "The Dark Tower" movie is officially getting a companion TV series. As AceShowbiz reports citing Entertainment Weekly, the TV show is based on "Wizard and Glass", the fourth book in Stephen King's Roland Deschain saga to give a backstory to the film.

Idris Elba who is tapped to play the main hero in the big screen adaptation is set to reprise his role as the gunslinger in the TV version. The actor is expected to be joined by 15-year-old Tom Taylor who is going to play Jake Chambers in the feature film.

It's unclear if Matthew McConaughey who plays the evil Man in Black in the movie will also return for the series, but director Nikolaj Arcel and co-writer Anders Thomas Jensen reunite to work on the script for the show and executive produce it as well.

While the movie will arrive in U.S. theaters on February 17, 2017, the TV series is planned for 2018 release. MRC and Sony Pictures who did the film have reportedly committed to making a full run of 10 - 13 episodes and they plan to begin shooting in 2017.

"In the movie, Roland is suffering tremendous loss. The most concrete, personal, existential heartbreak a character can have," producer Akiva Goldsman teases what to expect. "If the movie chronicles his final reach toward hope again, the TV show is the loss of that hope."