'A Royal Affair' Director Nikolaj Arcel Next to Take on 'The Dark Tower'

Another interesting update on the long-gestating adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, and this time it might be some good news. Deadline is reporting that Danish director Nikolaj Arcel (of A Royal Affair, Truth About Men, Island of Lost Souls) is the latest to be handed the reigns to The Dark Tower adaptation, now in the works at Sony Pictures with funding from Media Rights Capital. Their intention is to turn the book series into a franchise of movies, of course, with a linked TV show in a similar fashion to the version Ron Howard was working on a few years ago. Arcel is a huge fan of The Dark Tower and knows the series well, apparently teaching himself English so he could read King's books. But will it actually happen?

For years and years we followed development on The Dark Tower projects at Universal, where Ron Howard was planning a big movie-TV crossover that would live up to the world the books are set in. Deadline only says "Sony will distribute what is planned to be the first in a series of movies. A complementary TV series is also being developed by MRC." However, they do add that the producers from Ron Howard's version are still linked including: Akiva Goldsman and Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins, plus Howard. For now they're just getting Nikolaj attached before they begin working on casting the gunslinger role. We'll keep an eye out for development updates from here, including casting news once it's confirmed.

Our friend Eric Vespe of Ain't It Cool News is an expert on The Dark Tower series, and provides this tip in his post about the news: "My only advice to Mr. Arcel is to be confident in the audience. Let them go on the adventure with Roland and embrace the mystery." Stay tuned. In the meantime, watch A Royal Affair here.

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