King had taken to Twitter to make the announcement, followed by tweets from Elba and McConaughey. Elba will be playing the role of Roland Deschain, the gunslinger, and McConaughey will play the "man in black," the mysterious sorcerer. There is no word yet on which book the plot will follow, and the film will be made as a single release, with the possibility of more to follow.
King commented about the project, saying, "It's been a looong trip from the books to the film. When you think about it, I started these stories as a senior in college, sitting in a little shitty cabin beside the river in Maine, and finally this thing is actually in pre-production now. I'm delighted, and I'm a little bit surprised."
The film is slated for a January 13th, 2017 release.
