Idris Elba On Playing The Gunslinger In Stephen King’s The Dark Tower

Columbia Pictures has finally opened the floodgates of information on their upcoming film adaptation of Stephen King’s fantasy saga The Dark Tower. That means star Idris Elba is finally able to discuss his role as the series lead, Roland the Gunslinger. Elba describes Roland a man with a destiny, but who has perhaps lost sight of what that destiny is.

“When we meet Roland he’s a bit lost,” Elba tells Entertainment Weekly. “He’s been walking around for a long time, so he definitely feels like a man who’s… coiled.”

Roland finds a new anchor in a teenager named Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor). Jake has a psychic power called “The Shine.” Walter (Matthew McConaughey’s Man in Black) wants to use Jake’s power to destroy all worlds, so Roland steps in to protect the boy.

“Until he meets Jake, he doesn’t have anything to believe in, really,” Elba says. “He’s really pent up and releases his soul through [defending] the boy.”

More than just destiny or a charge that needs defending, Roland is also guided by certain mystic powers.

“There’s a mystical element to him,” Elba says. “He’s about 200 years old. He’s been around for a long time, and has a deep-rooted connection with the [supernatural] nature of the film. Roland’s completely tuned into that. When you meet him, he’s very much a stoic man, doesn’t want to talk. But when you get to know him, he really knows quite a bit about the world and his world’s history.

“And he very much knows the way The Man in Black works. He’s so clued up on that, which is what frustrates him,” the actor says. “Because he can’t catch him.”

Check out when The Dark Tower and other movies are coming out in ComicBook.com’s Movie Release Schedule.