Mike Flannigan’s Dark Tower Adaption Needs to Include This Important Prequel Story

Popularity shows no signs of declining when it comes to adaptions of horror writer Stephen King’s novels, short stories, and novellas. And so, it’s no surprise that many are eagerly anticipating acclaimed director Mike Flannigan’s adaption of The Dark Tower, Stephen King’s most prolific and acclaimed series. The story of the last gunslinger making his way to The Dark Tower to stop the Crimson King from toppling the structure that holds the entire multiverse together has long infused itself into many of King’s other works. Still, only The Dark Tower series has directly tied into the lore and mythos that the author crafted all those years ago in book 1, The Gunslinger. Yet there is a critical story that the first book didn’t get to: the Fall of Gilead.

In more modern adaptions of the series in comic book form, writers have pieced together the events of protagonist Roland Deschain’s life leading up to him becoming the final gunslinger in the universe. Book four in the main series, Wizard and Glass, explores many events leading up to this fall, including the most significant loss of Roland’s young life. However, it was the Fall of Gilead and the Battle of Jericho Hill that sealed his fate by traveling to the fabled Dark Tower. That is why Mike Flannigan’s Dark Tower adaption needs to include these vital prequel stories.

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The Dark Tower, Explained

Long considered Stephen King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower series follows Roland Deschain, the last of the gunslingers. Descending from the Line of Eld (this universe’s version of King Arthur), Roland decides to follow his people’s final mission: to protect and secure the iconic Dark Tower. Events have transpired that led them to believe that evil forces are working to break the powerful Beams (high-powered energy beams spread through multiple worlds that hold up the Dark Tower).

The first book begins with Roland chasing the Man in Black, a mysterious foe with answers to Roland’s quest for the Dark Tower. Along his journey, Roland meets others who are displaced or lost to time like him. He soon forms his own band of gunslingers, training them in the use of their weapons and the fighting skills he spent his entire life studying. They come across many foes on their journey, from murderous talking trains and mechanized wolf soldiers to “low men” or animal hybrid humanoids wearing human masks. And of course, there is their leader, The Crimson King, a deadly ruler who seeks nothing but oblivion.

The books all explore elements such as the multiverse, which allows the author to pull from various other books that he has written. Book four includes settings found in The Stand, while prominent Salem’s Lot character Father Callahan makes his way into Wolves of the Calla. King’s other books also pull from the Dark Tower series in return. For example, Ted Brautigan in Hearts of Atlantis saw Roland and his group moving towards the tower. Meanwhile, Black House (co-authored by the late Peter Straub) not only introduced Speedy Parker’s Twinner Parkus as a former gunslinger, but showed one of the Crimson King’s facilities being used to house children with the ability to telekinetically break the Dark Tower beams.

The Fall of Gilead and the Battle of Jericho Hill

While the books cover a lot of ground with the backstory and mythology of Stephen King’s series, there will always be fans who are eager for more and seek out answers to lingering questions. Thanks to Marvel Comics, some of those questions were answered. The storylines Fall of Gilead and Battle of Jericho Hill answered the question of how Roland became the last of the gunslingers, and it is both epic and tragic all at once.

After the events of book four of the main series, Roland is grief-stricken once more when he discovers he was deceived by a powerful artifact known as Maerlyn’s Grapefruit. This made him think that an old enemy, Rhea of the Coos, had in fact returned, when in fact it was his mother, Gabrielle, standing there instead. When his father discovers that his son has ended his wife’s life, he also discovers a poisoned blade on her person. This leads to the realization that their enemy, John Farson, had forced Gabrielle to try and end Roland’s father’s life. Despite the circumstances, Roland faces trial. However, he is soon released and tasked with leading the survivors of their home of Gilead away when his father and the other gunslingers are ambushed and taken out by Farson’s army.

The Battle of Jericho Hill takes place a few years later, after a series of attacks led by Roland and the last remaining gunslingers ends in a brutal final stand on the infamous Jericho Hill. As his friends and allies fall one by one beside him, Roland is shot and left for dead. But soon after Farson’s men leave, he stands, accepting defeat. He realizes that his mission for the Dark Tower is the only thing left for him to do, his people and home destroyed once and for all.

These moments are crucial to how Roland came to be who he was at the beginning of the main series, and why he has had such a hard time letting people into his life again after losing so much as a young man. These stories add emotional depth to his character, as well as the history and mythology that these comic prequels add to the story of the Gunslingers and the Dark Tower overall. They are crucial source material for developing this series into a television show, and need to be taken into consideration when Mike Flannigan develops the franchise.

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Stephen King

Birthdate

September 21, 1947

Birthplace

Portland, Maine

Notable Projects

The Shining , Cujo , The Shawshank Redemption , It , Carrie