Released in 2017, The Dark Tower was one of those Stephen King adaptations that fans had been anticipating for decades, but unfortunately, it fell flat on its face and was panned by critics, thus putting an end to the film series before it could even begin. Its streaming availability has been sporadic at best, as the movie has bounced from platform to platform over the years, making it difficult to watch for those who wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Thankfully, The Dark Tower has landed a new home, and starting next month, you’ll be able to see Roland, Jake, and The Man in Black journey from New York to Mid-World in all their disjointed glory.
Director Nikolaj Arcel’s take on The Dark Tower will hit Netflix on Dec. 1 (via What’s on Netflix), so you don’t have too much longer to wait. Starring Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, Tom Taylor as Jake Chambers, and Matthew McConaughey as Walter Padick (a.k.a. The Man in Black), the film was produced for $66 million, but only managed to take in $113 million at the box office, which was disappointing when you consider that King readers had been clamoring for a faithful adaptation for years before it came along.
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Sadly, The Dark Tower was anything but faithful, and took elements from the first and third books (The Gunslinger and The Waste Lands), while also trying to serve as a sequel to the novels at the same time, instead of just landing on one story and taking things from there. This created a jumbled mess that even constant readers found hard to follow, and for those who weren’t familiar with King’s work? Sorry, you were out of luck, because who knows what the heck was going on? Producer Ron Howard admitted in 2019 on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that it didn’t adhere to the source material, and strayed away from horror elements, which was a major factor in its downfall. “We always felt like we were kind of holding back something, and I think at the end of the day it was that,” he told host Josh Horowitz.
The Future of The Dark Tower Is in Good Hands
Thankfully, The Dark Tower is currently in good hands thanks to Mike Flanagan, who is in the process of developing it as a TV series for Amazon. The writer/director is a major King aficionado, and has had great success with previous adaptations such as Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and next year’s The Life of Chuck, which is already getting rave reviews. Though things are taking a long time to get moving, that’s actually a good sign for fans, signaling that they’re in no rush to put out a subpar product, and are instead focused on getting things right this time around.
While Flanagan has a lot on his plate right now (including The Exorcist), he did offer an update on The Dark Tower earlier this year, calming the fears of fans who believe his other projects are getting in the way of the series. He said he’s more than capable of working on two things at once, but admits that eventually Roland and the gang are going to have to take precedence over everything else.
“It’s perfectly feasible for me to be working on other things at the same time. I wish that wasn’t the case, and there’s going to be a point, hopefully soon, where that project needs to knock everything else out of the way. The Dark Tower kind of has to assert itself. We’re just not there, and I couldn’t make that the case now if I wanted to. There’s just too much we’re still having to get through to get it up.”
- Release Date
- August 3, 2017