Eight months after Universal put ambitious multiplatform franchise "The Dark Tower" into turnaround, Warner Bros. confirms that discussions to revive the project have been ongoing, while stressing that no deal is imminent.

Imagine Enertainment president Michael Rosenberg added that Warners is the only studio currently in discussions for the project based on Stephen King's seven-book "The Dark Tower" series.

Universal had announced a daunting plan in September 2010 to produce three films and a TV series based on King's epic. Set in an alternate world resembling the Old West, story focuses on the last member of an ancient order of "gunslingers" and his quest toward a tower that's also the center of all universes.

King, Akiva Goldsman's Warner-based Weed Road and Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's Imagine Entertainment are producing. Aside from disclosing that Howard will direct the first film from a script that Goldsman is writing, Universal never revealed any dates for "Tower" to come to life.

King's "Dark Tower" epic has been long pursued for screen adaptation. Before Imagine announced its plans, J.J. Abrams and "Lost" co-creator exec producer Damon Lindelof had optioned rights from King for $19 but were not able to get the project to the starting line.

 And it's out! In The Wind Through the Keyhole, Stephen King returns to the rich landscape of Mid-World, the spectacular territory of the Dark Tower fantasy saga that stands as his most beguiling achievement. Roland Deschain and his ka-tet—Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler—encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but two . . . and in so doing, casts new light on his own troubled past. In his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death, Roland is sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, a “skin-man” preying upon the population around Debaria. Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, the brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter. Only a teenager himself, Roland calms the boy and prepares him for the following day’s trials by reciting a story from the Magic Tales of the Eld that his mother often read to him at bedtime. “A person’s never too old for stories,” Roland says to Bill. “Man and boy, girl and woman, never too old. We live for them.” And indeed, the tale that Roland unfolds, the legend of Tim Stoutheart, is a timeless treasure for all ages, a story that lives for us. King began the Dark Tower series in 1974; it gained momentum in the 1980s; and he brought it to a thrilling conclusion when the last three novels were published in 2003 and 2004. The Wind Through the Keyhole is sure to fascinate avid fans of the Dark Tower epic. But this novel also stands on its own for all readers, an enchanting and haunting journey to Roland’s world and testimony to the power of Stephen King’s storytelling magic. 

Buy it today on Amazon.com or pre-order it for your kindle today!

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(Spoiler Warning) Roland Deschain may not live to leave the town of Tull! The last gunslinger has pursued the Man in Black to this isolated locale and now the townspeople, led by the deranged preacher Sylvia Pittson have risen as one to kill the interloper in their midst! It's the final chapter in this stunning arc that traces Roland's first, formative steps in his quest for the mysterious Dark Tower.

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Jae Lee has signed on to illustrate Stephen's next Dark Tower book, The Wind Through the Keyhole, which will be published as a limited edition by Donald M. Grant Publisher. Orders are not yet being taken and a final release date has not been established. For more details about this upcoming limited edition, please visit Donald M. Grant Publisher.

From The Official Dark Tower Site.

Javier Bardem has officially signed a deal to star in the movie and TV adaptations of the Dark Tower Series. The Oscar-winning actor will play Roland Deschain in the eagerly awaited Ron Howard and Brian Grazer adaptation of King's beloved seven-novel saga. It's a momentous deal because each of the three movies in the series is to be followed by a TV miniseries. A well-placed source confirmed to Page Six, "Bardem has signed on to the first movie and the miniseries, but the intention is that he will star in all three movies and each of the TV series. It's an enormous deal for any actor, but Bardem was always the first choice." The story follows "Gunslinger" Deschain as he travels through an Old West-like landscape in search of the mythical Dark Tower to save civilization. The first movie is expected to go into production in September with Howard directing.

Personally I always pictured Sam Elliot as Roland when reading the books.