The Dark Tower Trailer Is Here, and It Only Took Nearly 40 Years

This is the year for long-gestating Stephen King adaptations. We’ve already gotten a look at It, the latest version of King’s 1986 novel, and now comes The Dark Tower, based on the eight-book fantasy saga King began with The Gunslinger in 1982. The first of King’s short stories set in that universe actually dates back to 1978, making this just shy of the series’ 40^th anniversary. The outlines of the story, which pits an otherworldly gunslinger (Idris Elba) against the malevolent Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey) remain the same, as, regrettably, does the presence of a young Earth boy who discovers a portal between worlds. But King has assured readers that the movie version is less an adaptation of his books than an alternate version of them, which might give it more leeway than the ploddingly faithful King adaptations of recent years. The first trailer for the movie, which was directed and co-written by Nicolaj Arcel, shows off the requisite shimmery dimensional portals and looming Lord of the Rings–style architecture, along with an Elba monologue about how true gunslingers aim with their hearts and McConaughey’s ominous claim that “You can’t stop what’s coming.” Apparently whatever world the Man in Black comes from, they have No Country for Old Men there, too.