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.
-
Crossword: November 12, 2025The Week's daily crossword
-
Trespasses: a ‘devastating’ Irish love storyThe Week Recommends Lola Petticrew ‘steals the show’ in TV adaptation of Louise Kennedy’s novel
-
Should David Szalay’s Flesh have won the Booker Prize?Talking Point The British-Hungarian author’s ‘hypnotic’ tale of masculinity, sex and power scooped this year’s literary award
-
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
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
