Next year, there is going to be another adaptation of Stephen King's works with The Dark Tower. This story was originally a book series made from the master of horror himself, and it could be the first big film of 2017. This is what is known about The Dark Tower release date, cast, as well as Matthew McConaughey as Randall Flagg.
If you are not familiar with Randall Flagg, then you are not a Stephen King fan. This character has appeared as a very villainous figure in many of his works. He first appeared in The Stand as a demonic figure that comes to play after a plague kills off most of the world's population. He also appears in Eyes of the Dragon as an evil series, and finally the primary antagonist in King's epic series, The Dark Tower.
Most of Stephen King's works are interconnected in some way, and The Dark Tower is essentially King's magnum opus. Shooting for The Dark Tower has begun, and Matthew McConaguhey will be playing this iconic figure of evil who is a recurring character in his works.
You can see an image of him here, and McConaughey seems almost unrecognizable. The actor has a reputation of being kind of crazy on and off camera, and there is generally a type of character that he plays that is a cool and collected Southern gentleman. He has played against type, such as the muscular dragon killer in Reign of Fire, but chances are, he is going to have a lot of fun playing a very, very, very bad guy. His recent film Free State of Jones, has not been doing so well, but he has had his share of big hits and misses in the past.
As far as the good guy, that would be Roland Deschain, who will be played by Idris Elba, who is a gunslinger in a world that is part western, part post-apocalyptic fantasy, and a lot of strange events that one would expect from Stephen King. The book series has eight novels in total, with the series officially ending with The Dark Tower at Book 7, and then the 2012 book in The Wind Through the Keyhole taking place between books 4 and 5.
The Dark Tower film will have its release date on February 17, 2017. What isn't known is whether or not the film is the first book in the series, which had the subtitle of The Gunslinger, which was originally published in 1978-1981 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It would make sense for this film series to begin with the first book, and then judge through audience response whether or not a sequel should be produced. The fact that it is called The Dark Tower means that this is the last book of the series, which means that there will be a lot of backstory given within the context of the film. We shall see.
