Posted in: Amazon Studios, streaming, TV | Tagged: amazon, glen mazzara, prime video, stephen king, The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower: Glen Mazzara's Amazon Pilot Script Available to Read

Thanks to The Stunt List Season 3, you can check out Glen Mazzara's pilot script for his series adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower.

Developed by showrunner/executive producer Glen Mazzara (The Walking Dead, The Shield, Beacon 23), Akiva Goldsman (Titans, Star Trek: Discovery), and bestselling author Stephen King, Amazon Studios' The Dark Tower streaming series adaptation was set to be a more faithful retelling of the books than what had been attempted on the feature film side. The series was set to start years before the events from the film, focusing on Deschain's origin and backstory: from how he first earned his guns and became a gunslinger to his first encounter with the villainous The Man in Black. Sam Strike (Roland Deschain, aka The Gunslinger), Jasper Pääkkönen (The Man in Black aka Randall Flagg aka Marten Broadcloak), Game of Thrones' Jerome Flynn, Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead), and Joana Ribeiro (The Man Who Fell to Earth) were on board for the 13-episode series produced by Media Rights Capital (MRC). Unfortunately, Amazon made the decision to not move forward with the series in January 2020 – but now, nearly five years later, we're getting a chance to check out Mazzara's script for the pilot episode – courtesy of The Stunt List Season 3. That's right – if you head on over to the website, you can check out the vision that Mazzara had in mind for the series adaptation.

Back in 2020, Mazzara was a guest on The Kingcast podcast, where he offered listeners a glimpse into what the pilot would've brought to the screen. "The story of the pilot is basically Roland in the desert. The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. In this version, he's chasing Marten because Marten was with Gabrielle (Roland's mother) and he's vowed his revenge. In the books, (Roland) gets his guns to kill Marten, and then Marten sort of disappears from the narrative. So (Roland) chases Marten across the desert and ended up in Hambry. He meets Susan," Mazzara explains.

"In the pilot, it's the Feast of the Kissing Moon and she's being presented to the mayor and she meets Roland on the road. Roland goes into Traveler's Rest. He has the scene where the Big Coffin Hunters trip Sheemie, and Roland gets into a classic western stand-off. The ka-tet catches up and we have Cuthbert use the slingshot and he takes out one of the Big Coffin Hunters. They go into the square and as they're arguing, Roland explaining he's there to find and kill Marten, Susan grabs him and they dance. They actually dance to a Flogging Molly tune, which I love. The Big Coffin Hunters come in and are chasing him through the square, but Roland sees Marten, so everything all collides in the end."

If you're a fan of King's fantasy series, then definitely treat yourself to the podcast above. But in case you need more convincing, Mazzara also revealed what he was looking forward to adapting for the small screen the most: "I was really looking forward to Blaine. I had ideas for that. I was really looking forward to Callahan. In fact, I was hoping to take Callahan's backstory from the time that he leaves 'Salem's Lot to the time he ends up in Mid-World, I wanted to do that as its own mini-series. I didn't think you could fit that into The Dark Tower proper, so I wanted to split that off. I had plans to hire the best joke writers in Hollywood to write when Roland and Susannah meet Dandelo. I really wanted that to be laugh-out-loud funny. There were all these things I was jonesing to do."

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