Stephen King’s The Dark Tower is one of the most sweeping epic fantasies of our time. Regardless of your thoughts on how the story eventually concluded, King created a vast universe that provided one of the richest fictional landscapes in recent memory. Fans have been aching to see gunslinger Roland Deschain make his way to the big screen, and after numerous starts and stops, it looks like production is finally about to begin.
Casting The Dark Tower has been one of the fandom’s most enjoyable games, but that game comes to a close today. King himself confirmed who would be playing the two most important roles — Roland Deschain and Randall Flagg a.k.a Walter Padick — by sending out this tweet:
It’s official: The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. #DarkTowerMovie@McConaughey@IdrisElba
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) March 1, 2016
Elba and McConaughey responded with this playful little exchange:
.@McConaughey you have one new follower. #DarkTowerMovie https://t.co/5fSKF02C7I
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) March 1, 2016
.@idriselba come and get me, I look forward to it. #DarkTowerMoviehttps://t.co/4gxqm2GPo3
— Matthew McConaughey (@McConaughey) March 1, 2016
Here’s hoping that McConaughey’s casting as Randall Flagg motivates the folks over at Warner Bros. to make a deal for him to appear in The Stand. Seeing as how having a shared universe is all the rage in films right now, it would be a waste not to have McConaughey as the villain of that story as well.
It’s an exciting time to be a Dark Tower fan. It should be equally exciting to those who have wanted a return to high-class fantasy like The Lord of the Rings. The first installment of the series, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, will land on January 13, 2017. In the meantime, why don’t you check out some Stephen King miniseries to help pass the time?
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