After what feels like years of anticipation, we’re finally just a few weeks away from the release of The Dark Tower. Last we heard, none other than Cujo was set to make an appearance. Now it seems that was just the beginning.
EW reports that a whole host of King Easter eggs appear in the movie, in keeping with how the great man usually refers to other characters and situations in his own books, referring to his collected works as “Stephen King World”.
EW notes that director Nikolaj Arcel said he wanted to “honor this tradition by packing as many King references into the background as possible.”
I wanted Paul Sheldon’s book Misery’s Child in one of the shots. I wanted one of the old haunted places to be Pennywise’s house. And I got all that. It’s just like a dream come true for me, mixing every single thing. Cujo’s going to walk by. It’s just fun
EW even has a video with all of the references (click through to see it).
Eagle-eyed fans already spotted nods in the trailer to The Shining and IT, suggesting that The Dark Tower and Andy Muschietti’s upcoming IT reboot may all be part of a greater, interconnected King universe.
Fans are reportedly outraged that the flick doesn’t follow the books but it was announced some time ago that this will be something of a sequel. The other chief complaint seems to be that the footage from the trailer, nods aside, looks a bit generic.
Arcel (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 2009) is at the helm of the upcoming adaptation. He also co-wrote the script with Anders Thomas Jensen, Akiva Goldsman, and Jeff Pinkner. Idris Elba, Matthew McConaughey, Fran Kranz, Jackie Earle Haley, Abbey Lee, and Tom Taylor will all star.
The official plot synopsis is as follows:
Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor) is a young 11-year-old adventure seeker who discovers clues about another dimension called Mid-World. Upon following the mystery, he is spirited away to Mid-World where he encounters the lone frontiersman knight Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), who is on a quest to reach the ‘Dark Tower’ that resides in End-World and reach the nexus point between time and space that he hopes will save Mid-World from extinction. But with various monsters and a vicious sorcerer named Walter Padick (Matthew McConaughey) hot on their trail, the unlikely duo find that their quest may be difficult to complete.
The Dark Tower will see release August 4, 2017.
There will also likely be a television series based on the property that will run in between feature film installments. Stay tuned for more on this project as we learn it!
