In the most recent Empire Podcast, Ron Howard offered an update on his long-gestating adaptation of Steven King’s The Dark Tower. Last we heard, they had lined up financing for at least one movie with Russell Crowe still signed to play Roland Deschain. We’re still hoping HBO or Netflix will step in and give a full series its due.

In the podcast, Howard also talked about his other projects Rush and Arrested Development, but here’s the relevant part about The Dark Tower, transcribed by Empire.

“The Dark Tower is something that we’re still working on. We’ve all taken a vow of silence about the progress, the headway, what we think our timetable is, because I don’t think I realized how much media interest there was in the title and how much excitement there was. “It’s a fascinating, powerful possibility and even Stephen King acknowledges it’s a tricky adaptation, but to be honest, from a financing side, it’s not a straightforward, four-quadrant, sunny superhero story – it’s dark, it’s horror. That edge is what appeals to me, the complexities of those characters is what appeals to all of us. And I think Stephen King really respects that, with Akiva Goldsman and myself, that that’s what we love about it, and that’s what we want to try to get to the screen. “So my answer is: it got delayed, it’s never gone away […] but we’re not going to give it a timetable.”

Good idea. If you just left a timetable sitting around, Russell Crowe might hurl it at a concierge.

(Banner picture: Ron Howard and Brian Grazer photographed by David Shankbone.)