Michael Rooker shares images from cancelled The Dark Tower series, confirming who he would have played

Guardians of the Galaxy and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer star Michael Rooker has shared images from the pilot episode of the never picked up Dark Tower series and it’s really just salt in the wound.

The series – which had nothing to do with the disastrous movie – was set to pilot by Amazon Prime and would have been a true adaptation of Stephen King’s incredible series of books, starting with the (chronologically) first story in the sage, Wizard and Glass (Book IV) which would see our protagonist, Roland Deschain, as a young man earning the title of Gunslinger in a world on the verge of catastrophe.

We learned that Eastenders star Sam Strike would play Roland, while BlackkKlansman and Vikings star Jasper Paakkonen would be his timeless enemy, The Man In Black AKA Walter O’Dim AKA Randall Flagg AKA The Walkin’ Dude. Game of Thrones star Jerome Flynn has been cast in an unspecified role while Rooker was, at the time cast in an unspecified role.

While there was much speculation about who Rooker would play, the star has now confirmed on a series of posts on Facebook (below) that he was playing Eldred Jonas, the leader of the Big Coffin Hunters.

In Wizard and Glass Jonas’ group are a bunch of hired guns who rule the west with Jonas being a once Gunslinger himself who turned to a life of crime and becomes an instrumental wheel in the creation of Roland becoming the one man who can save all of reality.

Showrunner Glen Mazzara talked about the show and what it would have been (here) which just adds more insult to injury.

Rooker would have been a superb choice for Jonas and the entire cast was shaping up nicely. King’s saga is my favourite book series of all time (in fact, it could be argued that all King’s books are part of the story), so this series had me beyond excited, so imagine my disappointment when it was cancelled (here).

Still, I live in hope that Netflix, Apple or another of the many streamers our there will see the worth in the tale and bring it to our screens.

Meanwhile, cast your eyes on Rooker as Eldred Jonas (below) and let me know all your thoughts.