19 Crucial Images from The Dark Tower Trailer

King’s weird hybrid of western, post-apocalyptic, sci-fi, and fantasy tropes constitutes the first book series I ever really fell in love with (this is what 11-year-olds read in 1991; Harry Potter was an impossibly long way off). My brother and I used to pester our local booksellers weekly during the interminable wait between the third and fourth books. Never mind that by the time Wizard and Glass finally did arrive, I was ready to head off to college, and my world had moved on a bit; I still devoured the last three sequels upon their marathon back-to-back-to-back releases, and kinda loved them, metafictional warts and all (The Waste Lands will always and forever be my favorite, do ya’ ken, my cully?). It’s nothing less than Camelot-esque mythmaking, encompassing multiple fictional worlds—and our own. The kind of story that can only exist on the page.
Except…now it’s a movie. A movie that arrives in theaters in August having traveled a path as long and winding as Roland’s quest for the Tower. First it was going to be a series of movies, then a movie and a TV show, then maybe just a TV show, and now, it seems, just a movie (hopefully more than one). And diehard fans will understand why it isn’t really an adaptation, but a continuation, which means we don’t have the right to get too upset if things have been changed on the way to the screen. And at least the casting is impressive, right? Who wouldn’t be jazzed to see Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey square off?

And yet. I’ve been reading these books for decades. I’m kinda attached to what’s on the page. Watching the movie is going to be an exercise in self restraint, as I force myself to enjoy what is there, and ignore what isn’t (at least, not yet). Eddie? He’s not listed in the credits. Detta? Odetta? Susannah? Nope. Oy? Sorry boy, probably not in this installment. Blaine? It has been my lifelong dream to see the riddling contest with Blaine the Mono onscreen, but it looks like I’ll be waiting until the next go-round.
And that all might be fine. I understand that books and movies are different things. I know this, intellectually. But I do not read with my mind. I read with my heart. For me, and a lot of other readers, this adaptation is our Tower. We don’t yet know what we’ll find inside of it. Chances are, it’s not going to be anything like we imagined. But let’s enjoy the journey, while we can.
Here, then, are 19 crucial screengrabs from the trailer, some that gave me hope, and others that left me scratching my head. It will be good, if ka wills it. If not, well, you know what they say: there are other worlds than these…
This is the first thing we see, under Roland’s voiceover about gunslingers existing for thousands of years. I’m not sure what it is supposed to be. Is that Gilead?
Jake is in New York, and still dreaming of Roland and the Tower. Has he visited Midworld before?
Jake’s psychologist has a picture of the Overlook Hotel on his desk, because REASONS.
Oh hey, I recognize that house. Don’t go in there.
Looks like Jake’s journey to Midworld is going to be a bit less traumatic than it was in the books.
Or maybe not.
Speaking of, did Midworld always have two moons?
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
Hey, it’s the Tower! Those beams look nice and str…
..oh.Oh no.
Oh dear.
ALL HAIL THE CRIMSON KING, who may or may not be in the movie as more than a reference. Speaking of…
REFERENCES!!!
Maybe this is TCK?
But who is this? Are these can-toi?
Did Walter always have Matrix powers?
I do not aim with my hand. He that aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father…
Oh hai dad.
I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father. I kill with my heart.
The Dark Tower arrives in theaters August 4. That should be just enough time for to read (or reread) the books.