It was just earlier today that we heard Christian Bale might be on the wishlist for the role of Roland Deschain in Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman‘s film and TV adaptation of Stephen King‘s series The Dark Tower. It seemed odd, given that Mr. Bale will soon have his hands full being Batman for a third and possibly final time. But the source was the same one that had pegged Javier Bardem and Viggo Mortensen as being serious contenders, and that info turned out to be on the money.

In fact, that info was very on the money as Deadline now reports that Javier Bardem has been offered the role. This is step one, and the site says that negotiations haven’t begun, but “there’s a high level of enthusiasm internally that they’ve got their cowboy.”

So now we’ve got to see where this goes. It’s an interesting choice and one that a few fans might have issues with, given the fervor with which I’ve seen Viggo Mortensen’s name discussed. But I think it’s a good one overall. (Deadline does mention that Christian Bale was indeed part of the discussions, but it seems like without a big refusal on Mr. Bardem’s part, you can rule him out.)

It would be a big commitment for the actor, but possibly a very lucrative one. Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman have called the project their Lord of the Rings, only characterized by “an alternate Americana, one part post-apocalyptic, one part Sergio Leone.” There’s the first film, a six-hour TV miniseries, then another film. After that comes the second TV series, which might be a prequel-ish story, and for which the lead actor for Roland might get a break. But that’s a ways down the road, and in between is a serious commitment.

Here’s a synopsis of the (currently) seven-book series: