Amazon is pushing ahead with its production of the television series adaptation of Stephen King's "The Dark Tower." Reports say that casting has begun so that the cast and crew can prepare for the April filming of the show on location in Croatia.
According to an exclusive on That Hashtag Show, Amazon is currently looking for 16 to 18-year-old actors and actresses who will play gunslingers. Specifically, the studio is looking to fill the roles of a young Roland Deschain and his friends, Alain Johns, Ileen Ritter, Cuthbert Allgood, Jamie De Curry, and Susan Delgado.
The show is also looking for an actor who will play the villain Marten Broadcloak. The casting directors are also searching for an actress who will play Roland's mother, Gabrielle, whose affair with Marten sets up the main plot to why Roland seeks out his father, Steven.
Apparently, "The Dark Towers" will be different from the 2017 film that starred Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba. This production featured an older Roland (Elba) who had to fight the evil Man in Black (McConaughey) and prevent him from demolishing the Dark Tower.
The movie was supposed to be a trilogy. However, following poor box office performance and bad reviews, the studio decided to shift its focus in developing a television adaptation instead of a movie. In February 2018, Amazon announced it would be bringing the TV series to life.
Akiva Goldsman, who was part of the movie's production, was asked to return and develop the series with "The Walking Dead" writer Glen Mazzara. Stephen King would also be heavily involved in developing the story for the small screen.
King confirmed in an interview with Vulture that the show would be a complete reboot of the franchise. He also confirmed that the movie adaptation struggled because it was harder to compress the stories of a book series that was about 3,000 pages long.
The author wrote and published "The Dark Tower" books from 1982 to 2012. The fantasy, horror and science fiction stories were told in nine books so far, and it focused on the life of the gunslingers.
According to reports, Amazon deliberately delayed the production of "The Dark Tower" TV show to distance itself from the movie's bad reviews. The studio has not yet announced when the show will premiere. If plans go as scheduled, then production in April is expected to wrap up in June or July. There will be 13 episodes to the first season of "The Dark Tower."
