'Dark Tower' TV Series Cast Finds Its Roland And Man In Black

Let's give this Dark Tower adaptation thing another go, shall we? After the big screen take on Stephen King's fantasy epic disappointed just about everyone, Amazon is ready to try their hand at journeying to Mid-World. Sam Strike (Leatherface) has been cast in the pilot as Roland the Gunslinger, while Jasper Pääkkönen (BlacKkKlansman) has signed on as well, presumably in the role of Randall Flagg, AKA the Man in Black.

You want the Tower? Well, you're going to have to head to Amazon, thanks to MRC . The streaming service has ordered a pilot from studio MRC for a Dark Tower TV show, and that pilot has found its leads in the form of  Sam Strike and Jasper Pääkkönen. I don't want to be rude here, and maybe these two actors will do great work, but...is this really the best Amazon can do? Strike in particular looks rather baby-faced, which is a stark contrast to the rugged, hardened Roland most people picture in their heads. For all of the Dark Tower movie's flaws (and there were many), the film did well in casting Idris Elba in the role.

Elba's a bit busy, though, so he was never likely to return for a TV series. On top of that, Amazon wants to distance itself from the movie as much as possible. As Deadline reports:

The Dark Tower TV series is independent from the film and is meant to be a more faithful retelling of the book than the movie was. I hear it will take place many years before the events depicted in the feature and will focus on Roland Deschain's (Strike) origin story – how he first became a gunslinger and got his guns, his first conflict with the man in black, his first love and his first mission as a gunslinger.

With that in mind, I guess it makes sense that Strike looks so young – this is a prequel. Which, to be honest, is kind of boring. Why is it so hard for anyone to just adapt what King wrote? Granted, the Dark Tower books are weird, but all the story anyone would need is there for the taking. You don't even have to remain 100% faithful to the text. Just take the concepts and plot-lines King laid out...and adapt them. It shouldn't be that complicated!

The Walking Dead's Glen Mazzara is on board as executive producer and showrunner. At one point, this series was intended to tie-into the Dark Tower movie. But after that film failed to generate box office heat, and took a critical drubbing, the decision was made to distance the series from the movie entirely. You'll hear no objection on that from me – the movie was bad. Yet this new origin story approach doesn't inspire much confidence, either. Maybe The Dark Tower was never really meant for the screen.