What with talk of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings television series heating up, I suppose it’s only fitting that the rest of the studio’s slate has been pushed to the back burner, at least temporarily – especially when considering the production’s unprecedented ten-figure price tag.
Nonetheless, seeing as the other day things began falling into place regarding the Tolkien adaptation – with a possible premiere scheduled for 2021, and Peter Jackson back in the mix – Amazon Studios CEO Jennifer Salke has turned her attention to another hotly awaited small screen translation, The Dark Tower.
Last we heard, after falling flat at the box office, the Stephen King fantasy series had finally found a home at Amazon. Unfortunately, though, since then, there hasn’t been much progress, leading many to believe the show was dead in the water. Thankfully, during a sit-down with Deadline, Salke, speaking about Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time and The Dark Tower specifically, revealed that although she hasn’t gotten scripts yet, “none of those things are dead. They’re very much alive.” She also added that she should “be seeing…that material, in the coming weeks.”
Given that we now have confirmation The Dark Tower will be joining a very promising slate of sci-fi and fantasy-driven series, alongside The Lord of the Rings and other Amazon adaptations like Larry Niven’s Ringworld, Iain M. Banks’ Culture, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s Lazarus and Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, the electronic commerce giant looks ready to finally pose a threat to the mostly unchallenged Netflix.
As for the The Dark Tower in particular, though, after failing to leave much of a mark on critics or audiences in theaters, it’ll be fascinating to see how the source material fares on television. As always, watch this space for more.
