Brian Grazer reveals that TV adaptation of Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' series has landed at HBO
Accompanying film version still looking for a new home
Though Universal recently cancelled the development of their corresponding movie and TV adaptations of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" book series due to budget issues, it appears the project is far from dead, as producer Brian Grazer has revealed that the TV portion, anyway, is in development at HBO.
"We're going to do ['The Dark Tower'] with HBO," Grazer told MTV in an exclusive interview. "We'll do the TV with HBO, and we'll do the movie with… to be determined."
The original plan at Universal had the studio slated to release a trilogy of "Dark Tower" films, with two seasons of an interstitial limited-run TV series to air between film installments. However, the enormous budget required for the extremely ambitious project proved too big a risk for the studio to commit.
Ron Howard was set to direct the film trilogy based off scripts by Akiva Goldsman, with Javier Bardem starring as the series' central antihero, gunslinger Roland Deschain. "Battlestar Galactica" writer/producer Mark Verheiden was attached to co-write the TV portion with Goldsman. The plan was to shoot the first film and Season One of the TV series back-to-back to cut down on costs.
The "Dark Tower" series is made up of eight novels (the last of those, "The Wind Through the Keyhole", is due for release in Spring 2012), one novella, several corresponding comic book offshoots, and even an online spin-off game. The first seven novels have sold over 30 million copies worldwide.
HBO certainly seems like the right fit for such a visionary series - certainly better than NBC, on which the TV portion would have run had Universal decided to move forward with the project. Hopefully Bardem remains on board as Deschain - he really seems made for the part.
What do you think of this development?
News From Our Partners
-
How Far Will 'Star Trek Into Darkness' Boldly Go At Box Office?
'Star Trek Into Darkness': The Secret Behind The Mystery Villain
'Pacific Rim' Trailer Surfaces: Watch Now!
-
The Telefile - The Most Heinous Person on Reality TV This Week
The Telefile - Modern Family: The Best Lines of the Night
The Telefile - Fall TV 2013: What's On When
-
'Frances Ha' Review
'Star Wars: Episode 7′ — The Real Reason J.J. Abrams Left 'Star Trek'
Sega Game Gear Classics Headed to Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
-
Critics Consensus: Star Trek Into Darkness is Certified Fresh
Red Carpet Roundup: Star Trek Into Darkness Edition
Video Interviews with Katie Aselton & Lake Bell of Black Rock
-
What to Watch This Weekend: The Season Finales of Nikita, Doctor Who, The Simpsons, and Family Guy
Syfy Renews Warehouse 13 for a Fifth and Final Season
What to Watch Tonight: The Office's Big Farewell and the Season Finales of TVD, Elementary, and Five More
-
Watch This: With Beavis And Butt-head Do America, Mike Judge skewered the idiocy of cinematic adventures
Hear This: Destroy This Place shows how press releases can get it right
Cannes Film Festival: Cannes 2013, Day Two: Iranian director Asghar Farhadi chases A Separation with another stunning drama
-
Christopher Nolan for James Bond Movie? Director Allegedly Courted to Direct
Edward Furlong, 'Terminator 2' Star, Arrested Again
Cannes 2013: $1M in Jewelry Stolen at Film Festival
-
Demi Lovato vs. Perrie Edwards – PopCrush Prom Queen of 2013, Round 3
Justin Bieber vs. Austin Mahone – PopCrush Prom King of 2013, Round 3
Demi Lovato Sings Selena Gomez's Praises [Video]
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupTausif Khan
October 25, 2011 at 9:01PM EST Reply to CommentSince the project is at HBO I am guessing that the movie would be released by Warner Brothers? Isn't TimeWarner the owner of HBO?
Steven
October 25, 2011 at 9:16PM EST Reply to CommentThe Dark Tower series is actually 12 books.
ceggertsen There are actually eight official novels in the series, not including comic book spin-offs and other various offshoots.
October 25, 2011 at 9:23PM ESTHatfield Yeah, whoa, twelve?
October 26, 2011 at 1:08AM ESTEight including the upcoming gap-filler, plus one short story ("The Little Sisters of Eluria") and many, many novels that fall under the Dark Tower umbrella in tangential ways.
Monterey Jack
October 25, 2011 at 10:42PM EST Reply to CommentDO THE WHOLE THING ON HBO!
Sareeta This. I am too chicken to read the books, but I would absolutely watch an HBO TV series based on the books.
October 26, 2011 at 6:39PM ESTDave I
October 25, 2011 at 11:12PM EST Reply to CommentThe Wind Through the Keyhole could be interesting. I'm just not sure it's necessary. I WOULD like to hear more about the epilogue of the 7th novel, titled The Dark Tower (same as the series). Specifically, (*********spoiler alert********)
trying to keep it a bit vague in case somebody accidentally skims to this that hasn't read the series, but I am wondering what happens now that Roland has the horn? What does that change? It's like King gave us an ending only for the epilogue to both undermine it AND give the possibility of an even better (or at least happier) outcome. Which, o.k., I'm fine with it but I would like to have a bit more closure or just some sort of casual conversation from King on what that actually means for the characters.
As for the series/movie(s?), hopefully they are great. I love the story. I was skeptical, but they adapted Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter, both huge epic multi-book stories, and did them pretty well. So there is hope.
-Cheers
Ticktoc Spoiler alert
October 26, 2011 at 8:14AM ESTI think the ending means Roland could have been destroyed and sent to hell in the tower but he has done enough to earn another chance. Redeemed through his ka-tet . King has said he belives hell is repetition so having the horn to blow in the tower indicates he has another chance maybe his 19th chance
Rosie
October 26, 2011 at 2:29AM EST Reply to CommentI would love to see the whole thing on HBO, make it a long standing series so that they don't have to chop so much of it out like you would have to for a 2 hour movie. And I hope they get someone else to play Roland, no offense but Javier Bardem just doest do it for me, his accent is to thick and I would like to see some one with the eyes. I wish Eastwood was 30 years younger and Olyphant was 10 years older!
Mishell
October 26, 2011 at 5:55PM EST Reply to CommentHey check out an interesting video interview with Producer/Director Ron Howard at: http://culturecatch.com/vidcast/ron_howard