'Dark Tower' TV Series Coming to Amazon

Last summer's The Dark Tower was meant to kick off a series of live-action adaptations of Stephen [...]

Last summer's The Dark Tower was meant to kick off a series of live-action adaptations of Stephen King's popular series of books surrounding Roland Deschain and the Man in Black, but the film was received with both critical and financial disappointment. According to a recent announcement from Amazon, the streaming service will be home to an upcoming series based on the novels.

Little is known about the Dark Tower TV series, with the original story spanning across eight novels. Last year's film borrowed elements found throughout the whole story, while injecting new plot points to make it a somewhat confusing blend of original and new material.

Despite giving the filmmakers his blessing and lending his support to the film, Stephen King claims to know exactly why the film failed.

"The real problem, as far as I'm concerned is, they went in to this movie, and I think this was a studio edict pretty much: this is going to be a PG-13 movie. It's going to be a tentpole movie," King shared with Entertainment Weekly last year. "We want to make sure that we get people in there from the ages of, let's say, 12 right on up to whatever the target age is. Let's say 12 to 35. That's what we want."

"So it has to be PG-13, and when they did that I think that they lost a lot of the toughness of it and it became something where people went to it and said, 'Well yeah, but it's really not anything that we haven't seen before,'" he added.

In the film, Idris Elba played Deschain, with the actor having previously been attached to also star in the planned TV series. Comments made by the actor last year might have called that fact into question.

"You know what? I didn't know Stephen said that," Elba shared with ScreenCrush in regards to King having hinted that a TV series would be a reboot. "I don't know, actually, where it lies. I must figure this out, I don't know where it lies. I'm unfortunately the last to know at this point."

Amazon is also developing a Lord of the Rings TV series, which would likely take priority over The Dark Tower, so we have no idea when to expect more information about the King-inspired series.

Do you think it's time to abandon The Dark Tower altogether? Let us know in the comments below!

[H/T Deadline]

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