Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey Confirmed for ‘The Dark Tower’ Along with Some Surprising Plot Details

It’s been a long time coming, but the ink has finally dried on the paper and it can now be made official.  Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” is heading to the big screen and it’s bringing a pair of major stars along for the ride.

Stephen King himself confirmed the news today when he announced that both Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey would be starring in a big screen adaptation of “The Dark Tower.”  In the film Elba will be playing main protagonist Roland Deschain while Matthew McConaughey will play “The Man in Black.”

“The Dark Tower” centers on a gunslinger named Roland Deschain as he attempts to save his world by making his way to the Dark Tower, a nexus of powerful magic.  However, he isn’t the only person in pursuit of the tower.  A mysterious evil figure known as the “Man in Black” is also after it, but his intentions are far more nefarious.

And while we’ve already known that Elba and McConaughey would be attached to “The Dark Tower” for a little while now, there was another big surprise revealed today.  While talking with Entertainment Weekly Stephen King revealed that the story of the first film wouldn’t start with the first book. Here’s what he said:

“[The movie] starts in media res, in the middle of the story instead of at the beginning, which may upset some of the fans a little bit, but they’ll get behind it, because it is the story.”

Director and co-writer Nikolaj Arcel also revealed that a lot of the film would take place in the modern world.  I don’t think that necessarily means the stuff regarding Roland and Mid-World, I think that probably means all of the stuff involves the people who get drawn into Mid-World.  Without spoiling too much, the story involves people from “our” Earth helping Roland in his quest.

But what about this “media res” business?  If the film won’t start with “The Gunslinger” then when will it start?  The speculation I’ve seen is that the film could start with “The Waste Lands” or possibly “The Drawing of the Three” since that one dives into the companion stuff.  It seems likely they wouldn’t start with “Wizard and Glass” since that acts more like a prequel to the series.  I’ll be really curious to see what their plans are for this film and how they’re going to move forward on it.

The film is set to release on January 13, 2017.

What do you think? Where should “The Dark Tower” start if not with the first book? Let us know below.