TV
Read the Script for Glen Mazzara’s Unaired “The Dark Tower” Pilot Now
Before Amazon Studios announced in 2022 that Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy’s Intrepid Pictures would take on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, the studio passed on The Dark Tower pilot in 2020 from The Walking Dead’s Glen Mazzara.
The showrunner/executive producer has unveiled his script for the unaired pilot on The Stunt List, available to read now.
Mazarra took to social media to share the script, saying that it was “a blast to write.“
This was a blast to write. https://t.co/PjDwfVS2ok pic.twitter.com/CROcTVgQMt
— Glen Mazzara (@glenmazzara) August 19, 2024
Glen Mazzara’s “The Dark Tower“ TV series was meant to be a more faithful retelling of the book, removed from the panned 2017 film adaptation. It was to take place many years before the events depicted in the feature and focused on the origin story of Roland Deschain – how he first became a gunslinger and got his guns, his first conflict with the man in black, his first love and his first mission as a gunslinger.
The series’ logline: “Based on The Dark Tower books by Stephen King, young Roland Deschain investigates a treacherous plot in the town of Mejis, far from his hometown of Gilead. Here he finds love and learns of his true destiny.”
The cast of the pilot, which was never officially announced or confirmed, was believed to have included Michael Rooker, Jerome Flynn and Joana Ribeiro.
Mazzara previously revealed details on his vision for the unfulfilled series adaptation and the unaired pilot during an appearance on The Kingcast, a podcast about King’s books and cinematic adaptations.
Stephen King’s eight Dark Tower books draw from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western.
As for Flanagan’s take on the series, Amazon MGM Studios’ Vernon Sanders recently told The Wrap, “So Mike is incredibly passionate about this, and we’re incredibly passionate about Intrepid. There are a few things in the hopper with Intrepid with us, and we’re trying to figure out right now how to prioritize. So I don’t have anything to share specifically on ‘Dark Tower’ other than we are in weekly conversations with him about this and a few other pieces that we’re leaning into.”
While we wait for additional news on The Dark Tower, you can read Mazzara’s script now.
Himesh Patel (Tenet, Don’t Look Up) will star opposite Danielle Deadwyler (The Woman in the Yard) in Ryan Coogler’s reboot of “The X-Files“, which has wrapped filming on the pilot.
Patel confirmed the news in a chat with The Direct, while reiterating that he and Deadwyler play new characters.
“I don’t want to say anything that’s going to get me disappeared. Needless to say, myself and Danielle Deadwyler are playing completely new characters, and we just wrapped on the pilot. If we get to do more… we’ll see where we go from there,” Patel said.
That last sentence is noteworthy, as Patel is reminding that Hulu has only ordered the pilot so far. A full series order has yet to be greenlit.
It’s a good reminder, considering that Hulu also ordered a pilot for the “Buffy: New Sunnydale” reboot that was filmed and delivered earlier this year, only for the streamer to send shockwaves when it opted not to move forward with the series.
As for “The X-Files” pilot, Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler writes and directs the pilot. Jennifer Yale (“The Copenhagen Test”) serves as showrunner.
Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler play two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.
Patel and Deadwyler previously co-starred together on “Station Eleven.”
Other actors who have signed on for guest roles include Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrand, and Sofia Grace Clifton.
“The X-Files” originally ran for nine seasons between 1993 and 2002, with two additional seasons arriving in 2016 and 2018. 218 episodes were produced in total, along with two feature films: 1998’s The X-Files: Fight the Future and 2008’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
Himesh Patel in “Station Eleven”
You must be logged in to post a comment.