While promoting Tower Heist, producer Brian Grazer continues to talk about The Dark Tower. During a recent interview, he casually mentioned that the TV series component of the adaptation will debut on HBO: "We're going to do ['The Dark Tower'] with HBO... We'll do the TV with HBO, and we'll do the movie with… to be determined. We'll do it right."
It was recently revealed that $45 million was cut out of the budget for the first film from The Dark Tower series and that Ron Howard and Brian Grazer were still looking at independent financing or having the film picked up by a major studio. The overall plan is for a trilogy of films and a TV series that would cover the entire book series. The previous deal fell through because Universal felt that there was too much rick in investing in both a TV series and trilogy of films. If the HBO deal is done and they are backing only the TV series, this will put less of a financial burden on whoever decides to produce the movies.
It was also mentioned that they are still hoping to have Javier Bardem in the lead role. He'd be featured in both the films and the TV series, so it would be a serious commitment on his part. Although he has expressed serious interest, he has already signed on for a number of films, including the latest Bond movie.
"The opening chapter in the epic Dark Tower series. Roland, the last gunslinger, in a world where time has moved on, pursues his nemesis, The Man in Black, across a desert. Roland’s ultimate goal is the Dark Tower, the nexus of all universes. This mysterious icon’s power is failing, threatening everything in existence."