It’s being reported that Idris Elba, the star of Luther, Pacific Rim, Marvel’s Thor movies, Cary Fukunaga’s Netflix original Beasts of No Nation, the upcoming Star Trek Beyond, Finding Dory, and The Jungle Book, and much more, is now in early talks to lead the cast of The Dark Tower, the movie adaptation of the Stephen King horror fantasy book series of the same name, as the Gunslinger himself, Roland Deschain.

If Elba is officially signed on, the showdown between the Gunslinger and the Man in Black could be Elba versus Matthew McConaughey, who was reported to be in early talks for the role of the villain last month.

Much like McConaughey recently passed on a villain role in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, Elba recently passed on a role in The Mummy, the first in Universal’s reboot of their Classic Monsters franchise as a shared universe.

Previous actors who have been attached to play Roland in past attempts at turning the books into a movie include Russell Crowe and Javier Bardem. None of these attempts have played out, and fans of the books who were excited to see them turned into movies had all but given up hope after a roller coaster ride of studios taking on and eventually dumping the project. But Sony has swooped in, putting the project on the fast track, and with these castings taking shape it looks like they’re serious about making the movie a reality.

A Royal Affair director and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo writer Nikolaj Arcel is set to direct The Dark Tower, based on a screenplay penned by Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner. The movie is said to be primarily based on the first book in King’s series, The Gunslinger.

the movie is currently scheduled to be released on January 13, 2017.

[Source: The Wrap]