Dark Tower TV Series: 9 Things It Must Do To Save The Franchise

There were no grey areas in the Dark Tower film. It was a black and white battle of good versus evil with Ronald and the Man in Black in archetypal roles.

This is a far cry from the novels which are awash with moral ambiguity, whisking readers away to a world of flawed heroes that are sometimes difficult to root for.

Roland, for instance, is a man moulded by tragedy whose will to reach the titular tower borders on obsession, to the extent that he will allow a small child to plummet to his death or gun down an entire town if he thinks it will help he get there faster.

The gunslinger is a complex anti-hero who plays an emotional tug of war with the reader throughout. One minute they're on his side, the next they're questioning where their loyalties lie in the wake of his latest borderline atrocity.

Idris Elba could have pulled off a layered Roland, a faded hero with a bright-eyed good guy beneath the surface, but the movie's runtime and script compromised this.

With at least a full season on its side, the TV show has the chance to deal in more complex heroes and villains, moral ambiguity and meaningful character relationships.