Amazon's The Dark Tower television series, adapted from Stephen King's seven-book saga, was going to start with the fourth book, Wizard and Glass, rather than the beginning of the King's seven-book saga. Season 1 would have been about Roland traveling to the town of Hambry before the fall of Gilead.
Glen Mazzara, who is known for his work on Amazon has decided not to film the series.
Interestingly, The Dark Tower series was set not to start with the first book, The Gunslinger, but instead with the fourth book, Wizard and Glass. Fans of King's series know its iconic beginning: "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed". This setup is crucial to how the story begins, however mysterious. Nevertheless, Mazzara chose to begin at a different point in King's epic saga.
Why Amazon's The Dark Tower Began With Book 4
King's books begin with Roland Deschain, also known as The Gunslinger, chasing after a mysterious man dressed all in black. Roland is looking for answers that will lead him to the Dark Tower. On his journey, he does a number of terrible things, including gunning down the citizen of an entire village and letting an innocent boy fall to his death. Mazzara felt that, without the proper context, audiences might be turned off by Roland's questionable actions that begin the series. Although readers later find out why Roland does these things, Mazzara chose to build sympathy for the character before subjecting audiences to some of what he's willing to do in order to achieve his goal. With Roland's history in mind, it becomes clear that he has a heart and is a good person trying to do the right thing; because of this, it's easier to accept his antihero traits.
The Dark Tower book 4, Wizard and Glass, is primarily about Roland as a young man. Most of the novel tells the story of his adventures in the sleepy town of Hambry, where he meets Susan, the love of his life, encounters the hired guns known as the Big Coffin Hunters, and is eventually tricked by a witch, Rhea. King's books don't start here, and instead choose to tell Roland's background as a flashback; chronologically it is closer to the beginning of Roland's story, which may be why Mazzara chose to start there. After all, it is in Hambry where Roland first discovers the Dark Tower and begins his quest to find it.
Season 1 would have ended with Roland picking up the wizard's glass and seeing the Dark Tower along with the death of Susan. However, knowing that audiences would be expecting that iconic opening line from The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower series began with a slight change to King's story. Roland is chasing Martin across the desert as a young man, where he then pursues him to the town of Hambry. Martin is a sorcerer who has seemingly raped his mother and turns out to be the classic King villain, Randall Flagg. The series would then follow much of the events from the fourth book. Season 2 was about the war with Farson and the fall of Gilead. Finally, in season 3, the story would return to events from the first book, then follow them through the rest of the series.
Although this would have taken some of the mystery out of Roland's story early on, for audiences it would have been much easier to follow. It also would have helped viewers to better understand the gunslinger's despicable acts. For a television show, this makes perfect sense. Overall, it sounds like it would have come together with audiences being able to follow Roland's quest in The Dark Tower from start to finish, chronologically.