Earlier this year, Stephen King Tweeted out an image which left many fans wondering whether The Dark Tower movie might end up being a sequel to the books rather than a direct adaptation. Then, thanks to comments from the author about it starting in the middle of the story and various characters cast from much later novels than The Gunslinger, speculation started running rampant that the movie will indeed pick up where the final instalment of the seven part series ended.
That instalment [SPOILER ALERT] revealed that Roland Deschain had actually reached The Dark Tower many times before only to be sent back to the start of his journey (pursuing The Man in Black through the desert), with his memory wiped in order to keep repeating it until he can redeem himself in the eyes of the tower for the many people he killed to get there.
[zergpaid]Having opened his heart to his ka-tet – Jake, Eddie, Susannah, and Oy – in his last journey, the Tower rewarded Roland with the Horn of Eld, an artefact from Gilead which he lost in an earlier adventure. Now that he has that in his grasp, it’s thought that this will be his final trip to The Dark Tower and that he will either be granted access to the room at the top upon blowing it there or will at last cast aside his obsession after saving the universe in order to “live happily ever after.”
So, that’s the theory, but what relevance does that have to these new set photos? Well, take a look through the gallery above and you’ll see that Roland does indeed have the Horn of Eld in his possession, something which confirms some or all of the above. It’s created a new adventure which will play out in The Dark Tower, hence why we see Jake with him in present day New York. This is quite the shocker, and the movie being a continuation rather than adaptation is definitely a surprise, but again, we have no confirmation on any of this just yet.
Until we hear something concrete though, feel free to sound off below in the comments section with your thoughts.