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.
TV
‘Blade Runner 2099’ Teaser Puts Michelle Yeoh & Hunter Schafer at Center of Human vs Replicant War
Welcome to a future we no longer control. Prime Video has unveiled the first teaser for the upcoming series Blade Runner 2099, set in a world where humans are now secondary to replicants.
Blade Runner 2099 will premiere on Prime Video on November 25.
The new series is set 50 years after the events of Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 and stars Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and Hunter Schafer (Cuckoo) as partners Olwen and Cora, respectively.
Like Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, Olwen is a replicant at the end of her life cycle. Her partner, Cora, is a human passing herself off as a replicant.
In the trailer below, Olwen and Cora team up in the war between replicants and humans as they pursue rogue replicants.
Blade Runner 2099 comes from Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free, and Amazon Studios. Silka Luisa (“Shining Girls”) is writing, showrunning, and executive producing.
Jonathan van Tulleken (“Shōgun”) will direct and executive produce the first two episodes.
Dimitri Abold (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes), Lewis Gribben (Somewhere Boy), Katelyn Rose Downey (The Nun II), and Daniel Rigby (Renegade Nell) also star in the upcoming series. Johnny Harris (A Gentleman in Moscow), Amy Lennox (Only Child), Sheila Atim (The Woman King), and Matthew Needham (House of the Dragon) join as recurring guest stars.