Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television Entertainment have announced that they’ve acquired the rights to produce three films and a television series based on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.
His quite-decent seven part series had a rocky start and a disappointing ending but remained one of those dream projects for filmmakers, one that seems quite hard to adapt in any faithful way due to the sheer size of it (them books are BIG) as well as the numerous themes and genres it incorporates. But then again, they said the same about The Lord of the Rings…
As previously rumored, Ron Howard will direct the first film and do the first season of the tv series as well, which will be written by Akiva Goldsman (yikes).
“I’ve been waiting for the right team to bring the characters and stories in these books to film and TV viewers around the world,” said King. “Ron, Akiva, Brian along with Universal and NBC have a deep interest and passion for the ‘The Dark Tower’ series and I know that will translate into an intriguing series of films and TV shows that respect the origins and the characters in ‘The Dark Tower’ that fans have come to love.”
The tv series will likely also draw from King’s comic book prequel as well as the numerous short stories he’s written about the series. More as we hear it!