Summary
- Season 1 of Dark Tower should cover both books 1 and 2 to expand the narrative and explore the fantasy elements.
- The first season could focus on Roland’s past, multiverse history, and decisions, setting the tone for future seasons.
- By incorporating story elements from both books, the upcoming Dark Tower series may captivate viewers from the start.
It is no secret that the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series by visionary horror creator Mike Flanagan has seen a long and difficult journey to reach this point in the creative process. For years, this property has been in multiple studios, with various filmmakers throwing their hats into the ring to try and bring their vision for the series to life. One of the big questions that many fans have about this upcoming adaptation is how the series will be adapted from the books. Will each season cover a single book, or perhaps similar to the film, and will it build upon the original series with new chapters to tell?
The 2017 film took one of the big concepts from the final book in the series and decided to make a sequel to the books. The film, starring Idris Elba as the Gunslinger, wasn’t a flawed concept in that idea, but where it failed was in trying to force too many elements from the entire series into one single film. After a failed attempt at a series a couple of years later, Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower series will be a show that should run for several seasons if successful. For the show’s first season, The Dark Tower should focus on not just one single book but books 1 and 2 of the series.
Related
Osgood Perkins Revealed Why Stephen King’s The Monkey Has A ’90s Setting (& I Think It’s Smart)
The Monkey, the upcoming horror movie based on Stephen King’s short story, is set during the 1990s, and there are a few reasons why this works well.
The Dark Tower: Books 1-2, EXPLAINED
The first book in the series, as well as some of the expanded stories found in the comic book adaptions, followed Roland Deschain, the last of the gunslingers who protected the realm from the forces of evil, as he hunts down the enigmatic figure known as the man in black. The journey takes him through a vast desert, eventually coming upon a waystation, where he meets a young boy named Jake Chambers. The boy arrives under mysterious circumstances, and Roland allows him to accompany him on the journey to chase the man in black.
Eventually, their journey takes them through a mountain with a railroad running through it, and they find themselves surrounded by creatures known as slow mutants. When Roland hesitates when confronted with a choice to either save Jake or confront the man in black, Jake falls to his demise, setting up a decision that will haunt Roland for the rest of his journey. A confrontation with the man in black leads Roland to discover the truth behind The Dark Tower and the Crimson King’s mission to destroy it. Waking up from a vision having aged years and the man in black has gone, Roland knows his role and sets out to find the Dark Tower.
In book 2, the series begins to pick up as Roland becomes tasked with recruiting new members from other worlds for his mission. Facing monsters on a beach and stand-alone doors that lead to other worlds, Roland meets and helps bring over Eddie Dean, a recovering addict, and Sussanah, a woman with multiple personalities and suffering from trauma born out of racism and violence. On his final mission on the beach, he is confronted with the decision to save the young boy, Jake Chambers, from death, this time in his first life in New York City. In doing so, Roland creates two timelines, both affecting himself and a now-alive Jake while he and the others continue their journey to The Dark Tower.
Why Season 1 Should Cover Both Books
While the first book, even down to its opening line (The Man in black fled across the Desert…and the gunslinger followed), is iconic among longtime Dark Tower fans, it is also one of the shortest books in the entire series, having originally been written as a series of short stories or novellas in the author’s youth before being combined into a single novel. These novellas or vignettes each make a great chapter or story to tell in the first season, but if that were to happen, the first season would only be a few episodes long.
Instead, the first season should stretch beyond the confines of the first book. Flashbacks throughout the entire series would allow the writers to revisit Roland’s youth and the history of this vast multiverse that Stephen King has created over the course of several seasons. It would also free up space for Roland to struggle with his choice regarding Jake’s fate from the first book as he finds and meets Eddie Dean and Sussanah.
The second book also draws upon more of the fantasy elements of the overall series. While the first book has elements of horror, fantasy, and a hint of sci-fi mixed into the narrative, the overall story is a character-driven Western thriller, and book two is where more creatures and the concept of other worlds using doorways come into play. The visuals and the themes that the overall series deals with would be better served and draw more viewers into its first season if the show focused on the story elements of both books instead of just one. While nothing is confirmed, time will tell if the show can capture the magic of both books right out of the gate and keep the Dark Tower series going for years to come.
MORE
Max’s 2025 Slate Feels Incomplete Without This Stephen King Horror
A spinoff of IT, Welcome to Derry series has been reportedly postponed by a year, to 2026.
Stephen King
- Birthdate
-
September 21, 1947
- Birthplace
-
Portland, Maine
- Notable Projects
-
The Shining, Cujo, The Shawshank Redemption, It, Carrie