10 Missing Dark Tower Characters That Mike Flanagan’s TV Show Should Include

The Dark Tower The film was missing many main characters from Stephen King’s novels who need to be in the next adaptation of the series. Mike Flanagan Dark Tower show is currently in development and is planned to adapt all installments into The Dark Tower series. The 2017 film was not a direct adaptation of the novelsinstead, it acted as a sequel that only loosely adapted some of the characters and events from the source material. This approach was not well received, with the film having a 16% critic score and a 44% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The only main Dark Tower the characters that appeared in the film were Roland Deschain (Idris Elba), Jake Chambers (Tom Taylor)and one of Stephen King’s best villains, Walter Padick, aka the Man in Black, played by Matthew McConaughey. Some other characters from the book 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. After its introduction in the second Dark Tower book, The Drawing of the Three, Eddie becomes a close friend and ally to Rolandin addition to being one of the most important and well-developed characters in the series. When Roland first sees Eddie, Eddie is a heroin addict who smuggles cocaine on a plane for a crime boss named Enrico Balazar.

As the series progresses, Eddie overcomes his addiction and becomes a skilled gunslinger who Roland can trust and count on. Unlike the stoic and serious Roland, Eddie has an incredible 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. Although he won’t be introduced immediately, Eddie will 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 personalitiesthe first being the social rights activist Odetta Holmes, and the second the hateful Detta Walker, although neither personality knows of the other’s existence. After these personalities merge, she becomes Susannah.

Her love story with Eddie is at the center of the booksand 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 Roland, Eddie, and Jake’s stories would be incomplete. However, if his multiple personalities are to be adapted as part of Flangan’s program, some changes will have to be made to prevent the spread of misinformation about dissociative identity disorder.

8

Hey

First appearance: the wastelands

Many good fantasy stories feature an adorable, furry companion, and Oy fills that role perfectly in The Dark Tower series. Oy is a Throcken, more commonly referred to as a Bumblera species native to the Middle World. Oy becomes a member of the ka-tet that includes Roland, Eddie, Susannah and Jake, accompanying them on their epic journey across the world. The Dark TowerIt’s the multiverse. He’s not just a lovable companion, as he plays an active role in helping the ka-tet and even saving them from danger on several occasions.

He becomes particularly close to Jakebut he is extremely loyal to all 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 details around him that the rest of the ka-tet don’t notice. Having Hi in The Dark Tower the show will be beneficial to the entire ka-tet and the overall story, and Oy’s inclusion could be particularly impactful on Jake’s development better than the movie.

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 film, words “All hail the Crimson King” and the villain symbol can be located, but the character does not appear. The Crimson King doesn’t appear much in The Dark Tower books, with the Man in Black, the Can-Toi and other antagonists being servants of the Crimson Kingand those 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 before the villain appears, possibly not even until the series’ final season. However, the Crimson King must still be referenced regularly to ensure the series’ main antagonist has a consistent, sinister presence. It needs to be clear that the Crimson King wants to destroy the Dark Tower that holds the multiverse together and that this villain is the main evil that Roland and his ka-tet intend to defeat.

6

Susan Delgado

First appearance: Sorcerer and Glass

Susan Delgado is Roland’s first and only romantic love and someone who meets a tragic and horrible fate. Your story is told in the bedroom Dark Tower book, Wizard and Glassmost of which is Roland telling 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, her point in the timeline offers more flexibility for adaptation. Flashbacks with Susan and a young Roland could be the focus of the season as it adapts Wizard and Glassbut this story could also be told gradually over the course of the series through flashbacks interspersed with the current story of Roland and his ka-tet. Regardless of how the story is approached, Roland’s story with Susan is a fundamental part of the tragedy that defines him.

5

Father Donald Callahan

First Appearance: Calla Wolves

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

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

4

Court

First Appearance: The Gunslinger

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

Flashbacks with Cort in Flanagan’s show could better communicate what the gunmen are and how they were trained before their order was destroyed. Cort’s harsh but instrumental lessons transformed Roland into 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 plot, King is the author of The Dark Tower books and is the target of the Crimson King, who tries to orchestrate the author’s death. This culminates in a big Dark Tower character sacrificing his 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 the series not only has the opportunity to adapt this story, but also have the real King play this fictional version of himself. If the show remains consistent with when the real-life accident happened, King would need to look younger, but that’s doable with makeup and anti-aging technology if King is open to those avenues. Given how intertwined King is with a specific character’s fate, he needs to be in Flanagan’s adaptation, and it would be very satisfying to see the author play himself.

2

Blaine the Mono

First appearance: the wastelands

Blaine the Mono is a sentient monorail who is mentally ill and attempts to take his own life while Roland and his ka-tet are on board. They try to save themselves by exploiting Blaine’s love of riddles. The lives of Roland and ka-tet at stake during the riddle contest serve as the suspense for the third book, The devastated landsand that’s where the fourth book is, Wizard and Glassstart. This is a perfectly outrageous and dramatic cliffhanger to end a season of a streaming series while also kicking off the next season at a fast pace.

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

1

Cuthbert Allgood

The Gunslinger

Cuthbert was a fellow gunslinger and good friend of Roland. who died during the Battle of Jericho Hill. He appears in flashbacks as early as The Gunslingerbut is best developed in Wizard and Glasswhere extended flashbacks show his friendship with Roland and Alain Johns, and connect to Susan Delgado. As an easy-going individual who loved to make jokes, his personality is a sharp juxtaposition to Roland’s.

In addition to giving more information about Roland’s past and being another loved one he lost, Cuthbert blew the Eld Horn at the Battle of Jericho Hill until he died, and Roland left it there. However, after The Dark Towerwhich 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 work The Dark Tower the show needs to have flashbacks with Cuthbert and the Horn of Eld.