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Stephen King’s Dark Tower TV series cast announced including Eastenders’ star

Amazon‘s Dark Tower TV series, based on the Stephen King book series, has cast its two leads.

According to Variety, Jasper Pääkkönen and Sam Strike have both been cast in the show’s pilot.

Strike is set to play Roland Deschain, otherwise known as The Gunslinger, while Pääkkönen is believed to be playing The Man in Black, who also goes by Marten Broadcloak and Randall Flagg.

The series is set to tell the story of how Roland became a gunslinger and first crossed paths with the Man in Black, a villainous and powerful sorcerer.

It was originally intended as a tie-in for the 2017 film, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. However, when the film failed to make much impression on audiences, it was decided that the series would serve as a more faithful adaptation of the books.

Strike is best known for playing Johnny Carter on EastEnders, although he’s also had roles on Mindhunter, Timeless, and Nightflyers, based on the George RR Martin novella.

Pääkkönen had a role in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman and will also feature in his upcoming film Da 5 Bloods.