Yahoo News Stephen King's Dark Tower TV series casts EastEnders star as Gunslinger
EastEnders' Johnny Carter is leaving the mortal drama of Albert Square behind to encounter the dark forces created by Stephen King.
Amazon Prime Video has spent the last two years turning the author's Dark Tower books into a live-action episodic series in collaboration with former Walking Dead boss Glen Mazzara.
After all that time, there is finally some casting news. According to Entertainment Weekly, EastEnders' former Johnny Carter actor Sam Strike will have the leading role as Roland Deschain.
The heroic traveller, also known as The Gunslinger, was played by Idris Elba in the critically-panned film version of King's books. Like in the novels, the show is expected to follow his quest towards the mystical tower.
Opposing him is the malevolent Man in Black, a manifestation of all things evil in the universe. The Man in Black will be played in Amazon's series by Vikings' Jasper Pääkkönen, taking over for Matthew McConaughey.
The episodic series is expected to be totally separate from the film version of The Dark Tower, and will actually be set several years earlier.
Stephen King had hinted that the two would diverge shortly after the movie flopped at the box office, when he described showrunner Glen Mazzara's vision as a "complete reboot".
Landing the role of The Gunslinger is arguably the biggest job to date for Sam Strike since he left Walford behind in 2014.
Since quitting the BBC One soap, he's had a recurring role in George RR Martin's short-lived science fiction show Nightflyers and memorably guest starred in Silent Witness.
At the time of his guest part in Silent Witness, that show's star Emilia Fox predicted that the "brilliant" Strike was "destined for good things" - and clearly she was right.
Amazon doesn't have a timeline yet for when The Dark Tower will premiere.
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