On the face of it, the idea of a film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower would be enough to set the knees of any of King’s fans trembling. Finally! A face to Roland Deschain! Finally! We’ll be able to grasp how nutty Randall Flagg really is! We’ll finally be able to see just how vast the tall pillar in the middle of Can’Ka No Rey is! Fans can’t help but get excited at the mere idea of finally seeing the tower at the center of all existence.

Then again, maybe a film adaptation might not be the way to go here. Sure, the magic of The Dark Tower should be shared with everyone, reader or not. It’s a long, drawn-out post-apocalyptic affair through a world that’s a cross between the wild west and the medieval courts of long ago. But has anyone ever considered the damage that a film could to the magic of the story?

When someone reads a book before a movie, it’s up to their imaginations on how to interpret the implications of the story. The Dark Tower is vast, but how vast? The Crimson King is a spooky, crazy villain, but how crazy? Roland’s home of Gilead is a place of beauty, but how beautiful is it? The great thing about the books is that there is no limit to how beautiful, how mysterious, or how good or bad a character is.

In other words, it is probably a good idea if The Dark Tower were to be left alone by production companies. There a few instances where a movie may trump a book in quality, but why take a chance with The Dark Tower? It would to the legacy of King a lot better if curious readers picked up the series and actually read it as opposed to waiting until it hit the local Cinemark. It would also help the legacy of the series exponentially.

At the moment, The Dark Tower is set for a big-screen release in 2017, with Nikolaj Arcel (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Royal Affair) attached to direct. Arcel is a good choice to direct such an epic tale, as he is known to try to keep movies faithful to their original stories. That bodes well for The Dark Tower, so whether or not the story is done correctly, without limiting the story, time will tell.

Weigh in below on your thoughts on a big-screen adaptation of The Dark Tower.