For anyone who’s read Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, it probably seems suitable that the television and film adaptation has long been in limbo. For a few years now, news of the adaptation has popped up at various times as news (both good and ill) surfaces, from vague promises to casting announcements to budget cuts. Now, it seems like fans finally have some news that’s worth getting excited about. The Dark Tower is heading to HBO.
Most recently, Universal Pictures shelved the ambitious project, citing growing costs as a major concern for the series, which will consist of three films, each being bridged by a television mini-series. The project was set to star Javier Bardem, the Academy Award-winning Spanish actor best known for playing the ruthless killer in No Country for Old Men.
On the back of their mega-successful adaptions of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, and Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse books, Brian Grazer announced that HBO is picking up the reins from Universal Pictures and will be handling the television of Stephen King’s opus. Who handles the film portion of the project is still up in the air.
From MTV Movies Blog:
“We’re going to do [’The Dark Tower’] with HBO,” Grazer told us. “We’ll do the TV with HBO, and we’ll do the movie with… to be determined. We’ll do it right.”
Grazer, who believes that the previously attached Javier Bardem will still be on board as Roland Deschain, added that “Dark Tower” is going to be able to move ahead largely because he and Howard have managed to reduce the film’s substantial budget.
The MTV Movies Blog also has a video interview with Grazer where he talks with a bit more depth about the recent news and is worth watching. This project has undergone so much grief (and that $45 million cut to the budget is frightening) that it’s difficult to get too excited about it right now, but with HBO putting their weight behind the project, things are finally looking up for Roland Deschain and his Ka-tet on their march to The Tower living rooms around the world.
[We’re also reading through The Dark Tower right now! We’re only up to the second book, so there’s plenty of time to jump aboard. When we’re done, we may actually have a new HBO series to look forward to! - The Tor.com team]
Aidan Moher is the editor of A Dribble of Ink, a humble little blog that exists in some dusty corner of the web. He hasn’t won any awards, or published any novels. But he’s, uhh... working on that.
