Amazon’s upcoming The Dark Tower pilot has found its stars.
According to Variety, Sam Strike has been cast as Roland Deschain, also known as the Gunslinger, while Jasper Pääkkönen is playing series villain the Man in Black (also known as Randall Flagg and Marten Broadcloak).
Strike has recently starred in Syfy’s adaptation of George RR Martin’s novella Nightflyers, as well as Mindhunter, Timeless and EastEnders.
Pääkkönen starred in Spike Lee’s 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, as well as History series Vikings and Finnish films Heart Of A Lion, Frozen Land and Bad Boys.
Amazon’s The Dark Tower pilot is the second adaptation attempt of Stephen King’s hit book series to come out of the last few years, the first of course being Sony’s somewhat lacking big screen film that starred Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba.
The new pilot is coming from The Walking Dead executive producer Glen Mazzara. “I’ve been a Stephen King fan for decades and the opportunity to adapt The Dark Tower as a TV series is a great honour,” Mazzara told THR.
“The events of The Gunslinger, Wizard And Glass, The Wind Through The Keyhole and other tales need a long format to capture the complexity of Roland’s coming of age – how he became the Gunslinger, how Walter became the Man in Black, and how their rivalry cost Roland everything and everyone he ever loved. I could not be more excited to tell this story. It feels like being given the key to a treasure chest. And oh yeah, we’ll have billy-bumblers!”
The Dark Tower TV series doesn’t yet have an air date. Get all the latest fantasy news with every issue of SciFiNow.