When it was announced that Stephen King’s The Dark Tower was finally getting a feature film adaptation, a spinoff TV series was always part of the discussion. The fate of the franchise’s future will likely depend on how well next month’s movie does, but King fans will be happy to hear that the TV series is still part of the plan.

Speaking with Deadline, co-writer/producer Akiva Goldsman revealed that the scripting process has already begun, and that Idris Elba will most definitely be part of the series.

“The first episode of a show has been written, and we hope to retain Ron Howard’s original idea to mix platforms, something that seemed revolutionary 10 years ago but now is something that others have done,” Goldsman said. “Idris for sure is part of this, and if the movie is Roland Deschain the gunslinger, the show is his origin story, based on the fourth novel in the series, Wizard and Glass.”

Next month’s film is not a direct adaptation of any of the books in the series from author Stephen King but rather a “canon continuation” of the story presented in the novels.

The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black (Matthew McConaughey), determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle.

Fran Kranz, Jackie Earle Haley, Abbey Lee, and Kathryn Winnick also star.

The Dark Tower was directed by Nikolaj Arcel and produced by Akiva Goldman, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Erica Hughes.

Look for it on August 4, 2017.