Abrams and Lindelof Not Venturing to "Dark Tower"

By our guest blogger, Rob Stammitti

Any fan of JJ Abram's hit TV show 'Lost' knows he and head writer Damon Lindelof are capable of creating dense and heady plots around what is at heart character-based entertainment, so they seemed the perfect fit for adapting Stephen King's massive seven-volume fantasy epic 'The Dark Tower' into film. Sadly, Abrams has recently announced to MTV that he and Lindelof won't be working on the project, at least not anytime in the near future.

Abrams had this to say to MTV:

"'You'll be hard-pressed to find a huger fan of 'The Dark Tower' than me, but that's probably the reason that I shouldn't be the one to adapt it,' [Abrams] revealed. 'After working six years on 'Lost,' the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time. I'm such a massive Stephen King fan that I'm terrified of screwing it up. I'd do anything to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made because they're so incredible. But not by me.'"

Abrams and Lindelof were also responsible for this year's "Star Trek" prequel/reboot, which both produced and Abrams directed. The pair are planning another in the coming years, as well as another "Mission: Impossible" feature (Abrams also directed the third entry to the series). It's understandable why both would be a bit uncertain with such a schedule.

My opinion? Probably for the best. There are book series, and then there's "The Dark Tower." The saga is really in a league of its own with how much detail author Stephen King crafted into it, combining elements of his more familiar horror with fantasy, drama and action, and a universe carefully constructed to both work independently within the series and feature characters and plot elements connected to his novels that aren't even a direct part of the series. With how difficult a feat it is to get films like the insanely dense "Watchmen" off the ground, I can't even imagine the hardships a writer and director would have to go through to conquer King's material.

If anything, it would work best as an HBO series or miniseries. Perhaps once some of his projects are finished and Abrams gets another look at the material, that could be a possibility. Until then, we'll just have to wait and see who wants to step up to the plate and try their own hand at helming a potentially unfilmable series.