The Dark Tower Casts Whedonverse Star in Major Role

The long-awaited big screen version of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series has cast its Pimli.

Cabin in the Woods and Dollhouse star Fran Kranz will join Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in Sony’s adaptation, which sees Kranz playing the antagonist and “right-hand man” to McConaughey’s bad guy, the Man in Black, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are both helming the project from the production end under their Imagine Entertainment banner, while Nikolaj Arcei is set to direct. King and Erica Huggins are slated to serve as producers on the feature as well.

The Dark Tower fantasy series stars Idris Elba as Roland Deshcain, a wandering knight errant of sorts, and the last hope of the Mid-World. With a pair revolvers and the help of a few friends, Deshcain aims to right things in his fallen realm by way of the Dark Tower, a structure that stands at the nexus point of both time and space. In the process he must battle his nemesis the Man in Black, who too is attempting to reach the Dark Tower to harness its powers.

Kranz character seems to be undergoing a slight change from the book series, as Pimli is described more as a slovenly, aging character who doesn’t show up until much later in the series. But King has already acknowledged that changes would be happening as the story made its way from page to screen, so this shouldn’t come as a big surprise.