Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey to star in film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower
One of Hollywood's most ambitious (and longest gestating) projects is finally bound for the big screen. Stephen King has confirmed that The Dark Tower — an adaptation of his sprawling series of the same name — has formally entered production. Idris Elba will star as protagonist Roland Deschain, opposite Matthew McConaughey as his nemesis, the man in black. Nikolaj Arcel — best known for helming 2012's A Royal Affair, which landed an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film — will direct.
The Dark Tower is often described as King's magnum opus, but the series' length and density — it spans eight hefty novels, contains hundreds of characters, and is basically impossible to coherently summarize — has made it enormously difficult to translate to the big screen. A near-miss came in 2010, when director Ron Howard mounted an ambitious plan to adapt The Dark Tower as a more focused film trilogy, with a supplemental cable TV series to flesh out the franchise's other stories. In the end, King told Entertainment Weekly, "cold feet and money" got in the way.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The history of US nuclear weapons on UK soilThe Explainer Arrangement has led to protests and dangerous mishaps
-
Tea with Judi Dench: ‘touching’ show is must-watch Christmas TVThe Week Recommends The national treasure sits down with Kenneth Branagh at her country home for a heartwarming ‘natter’
-
Codeword: December 24, 2025The daily codeword puzzle from The Week
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
