While it may have taken years for The Dark Tower to finally see its green light, now that it’s happened, production is going, literally, guns blazing. Less than two weeks after officially announcing that the movie was happening, and that Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey were on board to star, we now have another bit of casting news. A worldwide talent search has located The Boy.
The role of Jake Chambers will be played by newcomer Tom Taylor, according to a report in Variety. Taylor is an actor in UK where he can be seen in the series Doctor Foster. His entire filmography is dated 2015, which is the definition of the word newcomer. As Jake plays a major role in The Dark Tower series as a whole, we will likely watch him grow up if the planned films and TV series continue.
In the first book in the Dark Tower series, Jake Chambers is the only other character of importance behind the Gunslinger himself (Idris Elba) and The Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey). Jake is from our earth but finds himself stranded in the desert in the Gunslinger’s world following a traumatic event. Roland Deschain takes the boy with him and the two bond while they chase after the Man in Black. This would appear to solidify the major cast for the first film, except, according to Stephen King, the first movie will not follow the first book. Instead, the story is expected to pick up somewhere in the middle of the seven book epic. Exactly where isn’t clear, so exactly where Jake’s story will begin is also unknown.
The only other casting decision that has reportedly been made is that of Abby Lee in the role of Tirana. This announcement makes things all the more confused as there is no significant character by that name who appears at any point in the novels. Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul has been rumored as a potential choice for another important part, that of Eddie Dean, and while Paul appears to be very interested in the part, no official decision has apparently been made.
If the movie will pick up the story somewhere else along the path of the beam we can be sure that announcements regarding Eddie Dean and Odetta Holmes should be along shortly, as the first book is the only one in which they don’t appear. Once the ka-tet has been selected, it will be time for the journey to the tower to begin. Filming is expected to begin very soon.
