Tag Archives: Roland Deschain

Nov 30 2025

Adapt Stephen King’s Dark Tower Saga!

Given the success of the recent live-action adaptation of author Stephen King’s literary works. It is time to consider bringing his magnum opus, the Dark Tower Saga, to life on screen or TV.

Adapting the Dark Tower Saga has been attempted several times over the years at different film studios with topnotch filmmakers attached to such projects such as J.J. Abrams and Ron Howard. However, those efforts did not succeed until the film The Dark Tower, which came out in 2017. The film was directed by Nikolaj Arcel with Ron Howard co-producing and starred Idris Elba as the lead characer Roland Deschain and Matthew McConaughey as the Man in Black. It was intended to be the first part of a multi-epic saga that would expand into television as well as more films. Well that was the intention, as most King fans know the film was poorly received and did not do well in its release. So plans for any followups quietly faded away.

There are many reasons why The Dark Tower failed to click with audiences and critics but it mostly had to do with the truncated script that loosely adapted elements from the first Dark Tower book, The Gunslinger, and the third book, The Waste Lands. Being that the books are quite expansive with imagery and scenes that can be hard to adapt, it was inevitable that the screenwriters condensed the story and threw out many elements, characters and story beats that in the end displeased everyone. Simply put the film lacked the epic scale of the books, was hard to understand, and was largely unfaithful to the Dark Tower Saga.

Since the failure of the film, Amazon acquired the rights and tried to produce a new adaptation of the books without success. It’s really a shame because the rich storyline about a mythical gunslinger trying to save the multiverse as he travels through many worlds, including ours, is too good of a saga to pass up.

Recently, many dense properties that were thought to be too difficult to adapt like Dune, The Lord of the Rings, Foundation and even King’s mammoth novel It have been successfully adapted. What happened was that the right screenwriters, directors, producers and actors were able to create memorable adaptations of the sci-fi/fantasy epics. So there is precedent for creating great adaptations that are either faithful to the books or can successfully adapt the essence of those books.

As of now, the latest filmmaker attached to a potential film adaptation is Mike Flanagan. He has received praise for his directing of other Stephen King works Gerald’s Game, The Life of Chuck, and Doctor Sleep, and for his original horror TV series Midnight Mass. Flanagan intends to develop a television series based on the Dark Tower Saga and honestly, this is the best way to go given the sprawling nature of the books. One thing to consider about adapting the books is that they are multiuniversal and feature characters and elements from other King books such as The Stand, It, Insomnia and ‘Salem’s Lot. Right now, Flanagan has the television rights to the books but if he wants to include characters from It for instance, then the TV show would have to be produced by Warner Bros. since they own the rights to It and other King works (which are referenced in the TV show It: Welcome to Derry). Flanagan would face similar headaches with other King books whose rights are held by other studios.

It’s only a matter of time before the right person(s) come along and are able to craft a faithful adaptation of the Dark Tower Saga. The question is when will this happen. Perhaps soon if It: Welcome to Derry continues to impress audiences and critics as it wraps up its first season. Then film and TV studios wanting to put out the next Stephen King epic can seriously consider the adventures of Roland Deschain and his epic quest to find the Dark Tower and save creation.

Apr 19 2012

The Dark Tower Returns

It’s been eight years since the final installment of The Dark Tower was released. For those who haven’t read them, Stephen King’s seven-book epic of The Dark Tower told a fantasy-science fiction saga with horror elements of a mythical gunslinger named Roland Deschain in the far future and his interdimensional quest to save reality from falling into chaos. Since the last book fans have been clamoring for more visits to the world of Roland and his ka-tet (or band of apprentice gunslingers). Based on the way the final book The Dark Tower ended it seemed as if the final word was written. But the ending, without giving anything away, had a cyclical nature. Fans pondered if there were more books or stories coming. In fact, King said back in 2009 regarding the series that “It’s not really done yet. Those seven books are really sections of one uber-long novel.” Well, now there is a brand new Dark Tower book to devour. The Wind Through The Keyhole has finally arrived and devotees can add this volume to King’s masterworks.

Many of the beloved characters from the saga are featured in this volume like Eddie and Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers, Oy the billy-bumbler and of course, Roland Deschain the last gunslinger. According to promos and samples released, The Wind Through The Keyhole takes place between the fourth and fifth volume of The Dark Tower saga. What is interesting is that while the book is promoted as a Dark Tower novel, it almost seems as if this novel can stand on its own while still taking place in the that universe.

When it begins, Roland and his ka-tet are on their way from the Emerald City (where the fourth book ended) to Calla Bryn Sturgis (where the fifth book takes place) but have to take refuge from a storm. While in their shelter, Roland recounts a tale to his friends that took place when he was much younger. In that story, young Roland is sent on a mission to investigate a killer shape shifter and meets a young boy. Hoping to calm him, Roland tells him a bedtime story-a story within a story. So in many ways, The Wind Through The Keyhole is like Wizard And Glass where that book went into Roland’s early days as well while using modern Roland and his ka-tet as a framing device. While the novel may not add anything to the overall story of The Dark Tower it promises to provide a fascinating look at Roland’s world.

Regardless of the book’s narrative, its release is a cause of celebration for many readers. Probably the biggest question they have is will there be more lost tales? Stephen King teased many with the idea that the entire saga hasn’t been revealed yet. Then again, he could’ve been alluding to the comic books released by Marvel that dwelled on his younger days. At this point there isn’t any way to know for certain if we’ve heard the last of Roland Deschain. Hopefully we haven’t.

Lewis T. Grove