New Dark Tower image from author Stephen King hints at big changes

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for the ending of Stephen King's The Dark Tower book series.
Book-to-film adaptations can be tricky; Stick too closely to the source material and the movie could suffer, but stray too far from what you're adapting and you risk alienating the fans. For better or worse, it lಞooks like The Dark Tower movie will be going off-book, but that may not necessa𝓀rily be a bad thing.
Stephen King has tweeted a very interesting (and s🧜poilery) teaser image that hints at some big changes between the book and the movie adaptation. Check it out below...
The Dark Tower is close, now. The Crimson King awaits. Soon Roland will raise the Horn of Eld. And 💦blow. pic.twitteꦚr.com/rqGSKM3dWL
Fans of the book will know that Roland Deschain (who will be ꦦplayed by Idris Elba in the movie) is on a quest to defeat the Crimson King at the titular tower - which is essentially the center of all realities - and blow the Horn of Eld. When readers meet Roland in book one, however, he has long since lost the horn. At the end of the seven book journey Roland walks through a door at the top of the tower, but instead of finishing his mission he gets sapped of his memories and sucked back to the start of book one. He's being forced to live out his quest until he gets it right. This time though, he has the horn...
King's tweet therefore implies that director Nikolaj Arcel's movie is more of a continuation than a direct adaptation, and it's a really smart narrative choice. Essentially, it allows for plenty of potentially fun changes between the book and the movie; it can be both a retelling AND a sequel to the books. Assuming there are no plan💦s for more movies, it could also mean that the adaptation could provide a definitive ending to the saga. In other words...it's geniusಌ.
Directed by Nikolaj Arcel, and starring Matthew McConaughey, Idris Elba, Jackie Earle Haley, Fran Kranz, Abbey L🐟ee, Katheryn Winnick and Tom Taylor, The Dark Tower opens on February 17, 2017.
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Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with bei🌊ng a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.