When last we heard of Ron Howard’s planned big screen adaptations of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, they were in a state of suspended animation, not quite dead yet not quite alive. Well, it appears that the films are still on life support.
In a recent interview, Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul revealed that not only are plans for the adaptations still in the works, but that he himself had met with Ron Howard to discuss taking the role of Eddie Dean, a prominent character in the books.
Paul made the statements in an interview with Ain’t It Cool News, wherein he said the following about the Eddie Dean role:
“I’ve had a ton of meetings on that. I just had a general sit down with Ron Howard, who is a huge fan of the show (Breaking Bad, naturally), which is such a crazy thing to even think that Ron Howard even knows who I am. They’re definitely planning on making it.”
He certainly didn’t mince words there, and his statements are sure to raise hopes among fans of both the books and of Aaron Paul. The actor then went into even more detail about Howard’s plan for the series, though:
“I’m excited. Their goal is to do three films, but also have a television element to it, which will be very interesting. From what I hear, Eddie Dean is a pretty epic, iconic character.”
Paul did not seem overly familiar with the series, having copped to not actually having read most of the books, but that’s a minor sticking point. With the books as popular as they are and Paul still riding high on a wave of Breaking Bad buzz, an appearance in The Dark Tower movies by the erstwhile Jesse Pinkman would certainly not be unwelcome. Of course, Hollywood has a short memory, so let’s hope Paul does well in his role in the upcoming Need for Speed movie, otherwise he could spend his credibility cache pretty quickly.