The cast for 2017’s film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series finally seems to be coming together. With Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey confirmed for lead roles recently, now all that seems to remain is to flesh out the supporting cast, the first step of which seems to have been taken, with Variety reporting that Tom Taylor has been hand-picked for the role of Jake Chambers.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the books (and to remind those who read them ages ago and can’t quite remember what happens), Jake is a pivotal character in first novel The Gunslinger, who encounters the protagonist in a petrol station while the former is searching for the Man in Black, and later goes on to help Roland in his search for the man who killed him (long story). Before long, a bond develops between the two – although this being a Stephen King novel, things inevitably don’t go well.
A relative newcomer, Taylor’s appearances to date have been limited to TV roles, playing Tom Foster in BBC drama Doctor Foster, the young Uhtred in historical drama The Last Kingdom, and the younger version of Martin in a couple of episodes of Sean Bean-starring crime drama Legends. It’s not a massive amount to go on, but from what little we’ve seen of him (mainly in The Last Kingdom, which this writer is a big fan of) he looks like he could be an inspired choice, and we look forward to seeing who else joins the cast.
Nikolaj Arcel is attached as director, with the writing team composed of Akiva Goldsman, Anders Thomas Jensen and Jeff Pinkner.
The Dark Tower will be released in cinemas on 17 February 2017 – download Stephen King: The Complete Manual from GreatDigitalMags.com now. For more news about the latest movies, pick up the new issue of SciFiNow.
