Last month, news arrived that Matthew McConaughey had been offered his pick of roles in Sony’s new attempt to turn Stephen King’s sprawling Dark Tower novel stories into a franchise than spans screens big and small. It appears he’s considering the villainous side of the plot as Deadline reports that Idris Elba is the top choice to play gun-toting dark hero Roland Deschain.
As of right now, it’s still early on this and there is no deal in place. But we’d bet good money that director Nikolaj Arcel and producers Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and Akiva Goldsman will be hoping they can secure Elba’s services as their leading man.
The film, which represents the first step in the plan to bring the story to cinemas (plus a companion TV series which is still in development), would follow Deschain and protégé Jake Chambers as they quest to locate the titular tower, a central point in the universe, before dark forces invade and destroy it, wiping out reality. Goldsman and Jeff Pinker originally adapted the script from King’s first book in the series, The Gunslinger, and now Arcel is working with fellow Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen to take his own crack at it.
Elba will be back on our TVs for the Luther special episodes airing on December 15, will be heard as the police chief in Disney’s Zootropolis on March 25 and is a mysterious – but likely villainous – character in Star Trek Beyond, launching July 22.