‘The Dark Tower’ Series Not Going Forward At Amazon

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Gerald

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The events in Wizard and Glass are watershed moments for Roland's development and greatly affected his decisions later in life.

But they take place after he becomes a gunslinger, although I forgot how much later precisely. Was it a couple of years, or shorter? So they probably would have shown how he becomes a gunslinger at an early age in flashbacks while the story already takes place during his stay in Hambry.

Interesting that it would have had many nationalities. Susan and Cordelia are both Portuguese. Marten from Finland. Gabrielle is Irish. And a British/Indian actress was attached for Rhea. It sounded interesting to me, although I imagine it would have been quite different from the book, also because there are totally new characters next to familiar ones.
 
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But they take place after he becomes a gunslinger, although I forgot how much later precisely. Was it a couple of years, or shorter? So they probably would have shown how he becomes a gunslinger at an early age in flashbacks while the story already takes place during his stay in Hambry.

Interesting that it would have had many nationalities. Susan and Cordelia are both Portuguese. Marten from Finland. Gabrielle is Irish. And a British/Indian actress was attached for Rhea. It sounded interesting to me, although I imagine it would have been quite different from the book, also because there are totally new characters next to familiar ones.
True, but my comment was more to do in response to Edward John's regarding Wizard and Glass's importance in the series as a whole.
 

Gerald

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True, but my comment was more to do in response to Edward John's regarding Wizard and Glass's importance in the series as a whole.

What I meant was: it still doesn't start at the beginning if you do Wizard & Glass first. But I think they wanted a strong emotional basis for Roland's character to build on, as you say.

It seems unusual to me that a show is still cancelled when so many actors already are cast. Usually that's a sign that it's going forward.
 

Edward John

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The events in Wizard and Glass are watershed moments for Roland's development and greatly affected his decisions later in life.
Didn't say it wasn't important. Star Wars The Phantom Menace is key to the story of Anikan, that doesn't mean I want to ever put that movie on again! :) It just comes down to personal opinion, but I much prefer the other books.
 

Gerald

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Didn't say it wasn't important. Star Wars The Phantom Menace is key to the story of Anikan, that doesn't mean I want to ever put that movie on again! :) It just comes down to personal opinion, but I much prefer the other books.

It takes away a part of the mystery and your own interpretation of a character like Darth Vader if you show his background. Maybe it goes to a degree for Roland too, although in already the first book there are chapters about his youth.

It's funny that people think of Clint Eastwood as the Man with no Name in Sergio Leone's Dollar trilogy, which Roland was inspired by. Because he has a name in the films, a different one in each. It was a marketing ploy from the studio to come up with the Man with no Name, and it stuck much more with the public than the real names.
 

Steffen

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Show-runner Glen Mazarra discusses what his plans were for the series. The article also contains a link to the full podcast, for those of you who may be interested.

Dark Tower Plans

I haven't listened to the full podcast, but here are my thoughts.

1) I was always cautious when I heard Amazon optioned the rights. Amazon is still a fledgling streaming service in my opinion, with not too many hit shows, unlike Netflix or HBO. I was always worried that we would get invested in a show that would be unceremoniously canceled.

2) The showrunner: Glen Mazzara. I'm just going based on his last work, which was The Omen TV series. It had some good moments but quickly went in the wrong direction. And yes, I know he was involved in the early years of The Walking Dead, but that's a show I got fed-up of for quite a while now.

3) I actually liked the idea of starting with Wizard and Glass and the backstory with young Roland, etc. They could do a decent 1 season adaptation of that book, setting up the rest of the series from the second season with The Gunslinger as we met him in the first novel.

4) Fun fact: Mazzara planned to have Stephen King (or an actor playing him) appear in the show, similar to the book!

I'm still holding out hope that HBO (or even Netflix) will go after this series.
 
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Gerald

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It's really a shame. The cast looked very interesting. And those setphotos looked good too. After an underperforming theatrical movie and a failed tv-series I don't think it's likely there will be another try soon. There will probably be a feeling with many developers that it's unadaptable or doomed to fail, which is why many passed on it in the first place, like Abrams.
It could still happen, it still has King's name on it and he's very popular at the moment, but there also still isn't a Talisman adaptation. I already thought it was a miracle they started on the show so soon after the box office failure of the movie.
Maybe if the new The Stand adaptation is received very well, they still give this (or The Talisman) another try.

And I think for sure SK would have played himself if it was at all possible for him to be there.
 

Edward John

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Show-runner Glen Mazarra discusses what his plans were for the series. The article also contains a link to the full podcast, for those of you who may be interested.

Dark Tower Plans

I haven't listened to the full podcast, but here are my thoughts.

1) I was always cautious when I heard Amazon optioned the rights. Amazon is still a fledgling streaming service in my opinion, with not too many hit shows, unlike Netflix or HBO. I was always worried that we would get invested in a show that would be unceremoniously canceled.

2) The showrunner: Glen Mazzara. I'm just going based on his last work, which was The Omen TV series. It had some good moments but quickly went in the wrong direction. And yes, I know he was involved in the early years of The Walking Dead, but that's a show I got fed-up of for quite a while now.

3) I actually liked the idea of starting with Wizard and Glass and the backstory with young Roland, etc. They could do a decent 1 season adaptation of that book, setting up the rest of the series from the second season with The Gunslinger as we met him in the first novel.

4) Fun fact: Mazzara planned to have Stephen King (or an actor playing him) appear in the show, similar to the book!

I'm still holding out hope that HBO (or even Netflix) will go after this series.
Got to disagree with you friend. Some elements of W&G were good but overall that book does not stand up to the first three books. A young Roland? Nope. Enough with the meandering to kids, Roland is an old man who has been wandering the desert for years. The showrunners credits are questionable. Who is Steve going to play? Roland's father? The books start with Roland chasing TMIB, that is how it should begin. I had never heard of any of the cast, Amazon has the dough for established actors, where are they?
 
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Edward John

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It's really a shame. The cast looked very interesting. And those setphotos looked good too. After an underperforming theatrical movie and a failed tv-series I don't think it's likely there will be another try soon. There will probably be a feeling with many developers that it's unadaptable or doomed to fail, which is why many passed on it in the first place, like Abrams.
It could still happen, it still has King's name on it and he's very popular at the moment, but there also still isn't a Talisman adaptation. I already thought it was a miracle they started on the show so soon after the box office failure of the movie.
Maybe if the new The Stand adaptation is received very well, they still give this (or The Talisman) another try.

And I think for sure SK would have played himself if it was at all possible for him to be there.
A book TDT adaption is too uncommercial for a studio I think.
 
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Gerald

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I had never heard of any of the cast, Amazon has the dough for established actors, where are they?

Michael Rooker was gonna be in it. But does it matter that they are well-known? Did you know any of the actors in The Walking Dead beforehand? They're still pretty much all great in it.
Personally I even prefer unknown actors more, because you can see the role they're playing better without all the baggage of seeing them in other films.

And they're not totally unknows, I've seen a number of them in other highly successful shows like Vikings and Game of Thrones.
 
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Edward John

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Michael Rooker was gonna be in it. But does it matter that they are well-known? Did you know any of the actors in The Walking Dead beforehand? They're still pretty much all great in it.
Personally I even prefer unknown actors more, because you can see the role they're playing better without all the baggage of seeing them in other films.

And they're not totally unknows, I've seen a number of them in other highly successful shows like Vikings and Game of Thrones.
The main star of TWD was actually kinda famous in the UK but I get your point. Who was Michael Rooker going to play? It just seems like a character like Roland deserves one of the best in the buisiness.
 
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Gerald

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The main star of TWD was actually kinda famous in the UK but I get your point. Who was Michael Rooker going to play? It just seems like a character like Roland deserves one of the best in the buisiness.

It was not revealed yet who Rooker was gonna play. My guess would be Cort(land Andrus), Roland's training instructor.

I must say Sam Strike who was gonna play Roland I haven't seen in a lot. Only Leatherface and Nightflyers, which I haven't finished yet. No idea how good he would have been. But he was only the young Roland of course, they may have cast someone else as the older Roland.
 

Edward John

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It was not revealed yet who Rooker was gonna play. My guess would be Cort(land Andrus), Roland's training instructor.

I must say Sam Strike who was gonna play Roland I haven't seen in a lot. Only Leatherface and Nightflyers, which I haven't finished yet. No idea how good he would have been. But he was only the young Roland of course, they may have cast someone else as the older Roland.
Michael Rooker as Cort is excellent casting.
 
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Gerald

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The pilot is now called a 'tv movie' on IMDb, rather than simply 'pilot'. I wonder if it will ever be possible to see it at all. It's very likely it wasn't finished though in terms of special effects, if it was rejected in an early stage. They're not gonna spend a lot of money on special effects for nothing. But some things were clearly physically on set, like huge horse statues. Even if it's unfinished I would still love to see it, the trailer of the theatrical movie leaked online and was unfinished and it was still fascinating.
But most likely it will never be released in any form, unless it is leaked.

There was a Locke and Key pilot too in 2011, but apparently that was shown to audiences, as it has an IMDb rating.
 
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Edward John

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The pilot is now called a 'tv movie' on IMDb, rather than simply 'pilot'. I wonder if it will ever be possible to see it at all. It's very likely it wasn't finished though in terms of special effects, if it was rejected in an early stage. They're not gonna spend a lot of money on special effects for nothing. But some things were clearly physically on set, like huge horse statues. Even if it's unfinished I would still love to see it, the trailer of the theatrical movie leaked online and was unfinished and it was still fascinating.
But most likely it will never be released in any form, unless it is leaked.

There was a Locke and Key pilot too in 2011, but apparently that was shown to audiences, as it has an IMDb rating.
Probably not. There was GOT original pilot which will never be released.
 
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Gerald

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A book TDT adaption is too uncommercial for a studio I think.

I'm not sure if it's just that. But the material is just really difficult to adapt. As they say here they really struggled with that: