After J.J. Abrams confirmed that he would not be bringing Stephen King's fantasy epic series The Dark Tower to theaters, the long-rumored project returned to languish in development hell - until now. It's still in the "don't hold your breath" category, but director Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind) is the latest name to be attached to the idea of realizing the quest of Roland Deschain for the big screen. The studio is Universal, and the writer is Akiva Goldsman.

With the unequivocal successes of the film adaptations of J.K Rowling's Harry Potter series, J.R.R Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and yes, even Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series, King's The Dark Tower has long remained the Holy Grail of the lot. He's one of the most successful fiction writers of all time; his is a household name in households that don't even read his books. His standalone books have been adapted for the screen time and time again. Some results have been good, like 1990's Misery or 1980's The Shining. Other results haven't been good, like Children of the Corn (1984), or The Dark Half in 1993. I could go on, the media based on the works of Stephen King has its own Wikipedia article. It makes sense, then, perfect sense, that King's magnum opus (and probably the work he invested the most of himself in) should be such an attractive prospect for filmmakers. After all, if J.J. Abrams could revive Star Trek despite not being a fan of the pre-2009 franchise, then anything is possible.

As it stands now, the deal includes both a film franchise and a television series. How the seven novels of The Dark Tower (King is writing an eighth installment that takes place before the conclusion of the saga) will be distributed across the different media of film and television is yet to be announced. For reference Heydey Films split Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows over two films, and even Peter Jackson made minor rearrangements to the plot structure of The Lord of the Rings in his crowning glory.

While the sagas of Harry and Frodo provided many challenges for their respective filmmakers (and yes, I'm sure the Twilight people had a long night or two), how Ron Howard - or any director, for that matter - will take on the twisted imagination of Stephen King should be interesting. There are Can-toi and Taheen, there is Blaine the Monorail, there is the broken city of Lud, there is the hollow land of All-World, and there is the Dark Tower itself, the nexus of all existence. I would have said these things are impossible to realize on-screen, but Peter Jackson did the unthinkable and brought The Lord of the Rings to roaring, colorful life. Regardless of whether Ron Howard has the honor and the task of expanding the world of The Dark Tower, I think we can all be agreed on one thing - at least Michael Bay has nothing to do with the project.