10 Interesting Facts About ‘The Dark Tower’

Those adults who are wholly ignorant of Stephen King’s iconic, dimension-hopping masterpiece, The Dark Tower, are about to get a crash course in epic weirdness on August 4, when Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey take on the lead roles in the first major motion picture adaptation of the series. A film event literally decades in the making, The Dark Tower promises plenty of thrills, and plenty of scrutiny from those fans expecting an entirely faithful leap to the big screen. Whether people love it or hate it, The Dark Tower promises to be one of the most talked about (and yelled about) films of the summer. If you’re entering into the whole thing without having read the books or followed the film’s production, here are some big takeaways you should know before walking into theaters on August 4. The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger is a big deal to a lot of people, and here’s why.

1. A Super Brief (and Spoiler Free) Synopsis of ‘The Dark Tower’

Without intending to ruin anything or presume which narrative direction the film will take, you can expect the basic plot of the film to revolve around a man named Roland, the last existing member of the order of Gunslingers, a kind of mash up of a medieval knight, a samurai, and a cowboy. Roland the Gunslinger is chasing after this real a-hole known as the Man in Black. The character goes by many names and is able to pull off a bunch of dark magic shenanigans. The man in black is looking for this mystical nexus point at the center of existence called the Dark Tower. And Roland wants to put a bullet into the Man in Black. Of course, what begins as a standard revenge tale soon expands into a mind-bending journey through dimensions and Universes. It gets weird, folks. Weird, but awesome.