10 Missing Dark Tower Movie Characters Mike Flanagan's TV Show Should Include

The Dark Tower movie was missing many key characters from the Stephen King novels who need to be in the upcoming series adaptation. Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower show is currently in development and is planned to adapt all the installments in The Dark Tower series. The 2017 movie was not a direct adaptation of the novels, instead acting as a sequel that only loosely adapted some of the characters and events from the source material. This approach was not received well, with the movie holding a 16% critical score and a 44% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The only major Dark Tower characters who appeared in the movie were Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor), and one of Stephen King’s best villains, Walter Padick, also known as the Man in Black, who was played by Matthew McConaughey. A few other book characters appeared, including Roland’s father, Steven Deschain (Dennis Haysbert). However, many important characters were missing and will need to be included in Flanagan’s series for it to be a faithful adaptation.

10 Eddie Dean

First Appearance: The Drawing Of The Three

Eddie Dean is a member of Roland’s ka-tet, a group brought together by fate. Following his introduction in the second Dark Tower book, The Drawing of the Three, Eddie becomes a close friend and ally to Roland, along with being one of the most important and well-developed characters in the series. When Roland sees Eddie for the first time, Eddie is a heroin addict smuggling cocaine on an airplane for a crime boss named Enrico Balazar.

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As the series progresses, Eddie overcomes his addiction and becomes a skilled gunslinger who Roland can trust and rely on. Unlike the stoic and serious Roland, Eddie has a terrific sense of humor and brings many hilarious jokes and memorable quotes to the series. He is the first member of the ka-tet that begins to take shape in The Drawing of the Three and remains integral throughout the rest of the series. While he won’t be introduced right away, Eddie will ultimately be vital to Flanagan’s adaptation.

9 Susannah Dean

First Appearance: The Drawing Of The Three

Susannah Dean is a complex character who, like Eddie, becomes part of Roland’s ka-tet. She also learns to be a gunslinger, becomes a trusted friend and ally to Roland, and is a central character. Susannah has multiple personalities, with the first being the social rights activist Odetta Holmes, and the second being the hateful Detta Walker, although neither personality knows of the other’s existence. After these personalities are merged, she becomes Susannah.

Her love story with Eddie is at the heart of the books, and she is at the center of many heroic and deeply emotional moments. She has her own compelling arc, and without her, there is no ka-tet, and the stories of Roland, Eddie, and Jake would be incomplete. However, if her multiple personalities are adapted as part of Flangan’s show, some changes will need to be made to avoid spreading misinformation about dissociative identity disorder.

8 Oy

First Appearance: The Waste Lands

Many good fantasy stories feature a lovable and furry companion, and Oy perfectly fulfills that role in The Dark Tower series. Oy is a throcken, more commonly referred to as a billy-bumbler, a species that is native to Mid-World. Oy becomes a member of the ka-tet that includes Roland, Eddie, Susannah, and Jake, accompanying them on their epic journey across The Dark Tower‘s multiverse. He is not just a lovable companion, though, as he plays an active role in helping the ka-tet and even saving them from peril on multiple occasions.

He becomes particularly close with Jake, but is fiercely loyal to all the members of the ka-tet, and does not hesitate to put himself in danger to help them. Oy is also quite intelligent and can pick up on details in his surroundings that the rest of the ka-tet do not notice. Having Oy in The Dark Tower show will be beneficial for the entire ka-tet and overall story, and Oy’s inclusion can be particularly impactful in developing Jake better than the movie did.

7 The Crimson King

First Appearance: The Dark Tower

The Crimson King is the overarching villain of The Dark Tower series. In The Dark Tower movie, the words “All Hail the Crimson King” and the villain’s symbol can be spotted, but the character does not appear. The Crimson King does not appear much in The Dark Tower books, with the Man in Black, the Can-Toi, and other antagonists being servants of the Crimson King, and the ones that Roland and his ka-tet directly interact with throughout the series.

Unless Flanagan decides to show the Crimson King early on, it will likely be many seasons until the villain appears, possibly not even until the series’ final season. Nevertheless, the Crimson King should still be regularly referenced to ensure that the show’s main antagonist has a consistent and sinister presence. It needs to be made clear that the Crimson King wants to destroy the Dark Tower that holds the multiverse together and that this villain is the primary evil that Roland and his ka-tet aim to defeat.

6 Susan Delgado

First Appearance: Wizard And Glass

Susan Delgado is Roland’s first and only romantic love and someone who meets a tragic and horrific fate. Her story is told in the fourth Dark Tower book, Wizard and Glass, the majority of which is Roland telling the ka-tet about his past, which includes him meeting, falling in love with, and losing Susan. Roland’s relationship with Susan is a defining part of his past that must be included in Flanagan’s adaptation to fully understand Roland’s character.

While the series needs to tell Susan’s story, its point in the timeline does provide more flexibility for the adaptation. Flashbacks with Susan and a young Roland could be the focus of the season that adapts Wizard and Glass, but this story could also be gradually told throughout the series through flashbacks interspersed with the present-day story of Roland and his ka-tet. Regardless of how the story is approached, Roland’s history with Susan is a foundational part of the tragedy that defines him.

5 Father Donald Callahan

First Appearance: Wolves of the Calla

Father Donald Callahan is a priest introduced in the novel Salem’s Lot, with his story continuing in the fifth Dark Tower novel, Wolves of the Calla. After leaving the town of Jerusalem’s Lot in shame, Wolves of the Calla reveals what happened to Father Callahan next, and how he ends up crossing paths with Roland and his ka-tet. Father Callahan becomes an invaluable ally to them and earns his redemption story after his ignominious ending in Salem’s Lot.

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The character has appeared in the various Salem’s Lot adaptations, most recently played by John Benjamin Hickey in the 2024 version released on Max. This version of the story killed Father Callahan, though, which makes it highly unlikely that Hickey will reprise the role for The Dark Tower show. Even if this change from the Salem’s Lot book had not been made, a different actor probably would have been cast anyway, with Flanagan’s Dark Tower being its own production.

4 Cort

First Appearance: The Gunslinger

Cortland Andrus, more commonly referred to as Cort, was one of Roland’s teachers and mentors during his gunslinger training. Like Susan Delgado, Cort died before the present-day events of the series, and only appears via flashbacks, although the flashbacks with him begin in the first book, The Gunslinger. The Dark Tower movie did feature a flashback of Roland with his father and fellow gunslinger, Steven, but it did not include Cort and his training of Roland.

Flashbacks with Cort in Flanagan’s show can better communicate what the gunslingers are and how they were trained before their order was destroyed. Cort’s harsh, but instrumental lessons shaped Roland into becoming an unparalleled gunslinger, and Cort’s teachings inform Roland’s gunslinger training for Eddie, Susannah, and Jake. Cort’s flashbacks could be featured throughout the series, or there could also be specific episodes or seasons that focus more on Cort.

3 Stephen King

First Appearance: Song Of Susannah

Stephen King is not only the author of The Dark Tower books but is also a character in the series. In a meta storyline, King is the author of The Dark Tower books and is targeted by the Crimson King, who tries to orchestrate the author’s death. This culminates in a major Dark Tower character sacrificing their life to save King from being killed by the truck while walking on the side of a road in 1999. This is based on a real-life accident in 1999 that King was in.

Flanagan’s Dark Tower series not only has an opportunity to adapt this story but to have the real King play this fictional version of himself. If the show stays consistent with when the real-life accident happened, King would need to appear younger, but this is feasible to do with makeup and with de-aging technology if King is open to these avenues. Given how intertwined King is with the fate of a particular character, he needs to be in Flanagan’s adaptation, and it would be most satisfying to see the author play himself.

2 Blaine the Mono

First Appearance: The Waste Lands

Blaine the Mono is a sentient monorail who is mentally unwell and tries to take his own life while Roland and his ka-tet are aboard. They try to save themselves by exploiting Blaine’s love for riddles. The lives of Roland and the ka-tet hanging in the balance during the riddle contest act as the cliffhanger to the third book, The Waste Lands, and is where the fourth book, Wizard and Glass, begins. This is a perfectly outrageous and dramatic cliffhanger to end a season of a streaming series, while also getting the next season off to a fast-paced start.

Blaine is the kind of supporting villain who works well on the page, but who would work even better when visually brought to life in a television series. In addition to the visual elements of the character, the voice performance will be even more important, as the voice is what will communicate the character’s personality and mental state. Blaine is both weird and formidable enough to be a character that will make an impact on book readers and those experiencing the character for the first time.

1 Cuthbert Allgood

The Gunslinger

Cuthbert was a fellow gunslinger and good friend of Roland’s who died during the Battle of Jericho Hill. He is featured in flashbacks as early as The Gunslinger, but is best developed in Wizard and Glass, where the extended flashbacks showcase his friendship with Roland and Alain Johns, and connect to Susan Delgado. As an individual who was easygoing and who loved to make jokes, his personality is a stark juxtaposition from that of Roland.

Beyond giving more insight into Roland’s past and being another loved one he lost, Cuthbert blew the Horn of Eld at the Battle of Jericho Hill until he died, and Roland left it there. However, after The Dark Tower, which is Stephen King’s best ending, Roland has the Horn of Eld in his possession again. For the significance of this to be understood, Flanagan’s The Dark Tower show needs to have flashbacks with Cuthbert and the Horn of Eld.

Idris Elba, Tom Taylor, Claudia Kim, and Matthew McConaughey star in The Dark Tower, a Western Sci-Fi film directed by Nikolaj Arcel. Released in 2017, The Dark Tower follows a young boy with visions of an apocalyptic future in which a powerful man, dubbed The Man in Black, lays waste to the universe. The film is based on the Stephen King book series.

Director

Nikolaj Arcel

Release Date

August 4, 2017

Writers

Anders Thomas Jensen , Jeff Pinkner , Nikolaj Arcel , Akiva Goldsman

Runtime

95 Minutes