With the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy in the past (an adaptation of The Hobbit is in the works), the Harry Potter series coming to a close at cinemas in spring 2o11, and only one new Twilight movie on the horizon, filmmakers must be scouring bookstore shelves for similar multi-year projects to adapt. One beloved fantasy series may be close to getting a green light in Hollywood: Ron Howard is apparently in talks to adapt Stephen King’s hugely popular seven-volume Gunslinger saga, which bears the umbrella title The Dark Tower.

According to Jacket Copy, the Los Angeles Times‘ book blog, Howard, producer Brian Grazer, and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind, The Client) are interested in making three feature films of King’s books, accompanied by a television series that would run between segments. Nothing has been finalized yet, but Jacket Copy reports that Stephen King is enthusiastic about the scheme:

We’re really early on, but he and I do know that he loves what he’s hearing and he’s excited about it, Howard said. He has just been so welcoming. ˜Welcome aboard’ is how I would describe the reception we got. … I think he has a genuine curiosity, even at this point in his amazing career, about the way his work can be taken to another medium and therefore a kind of openness and freedom about what those stories will look like.  I hope it goes great. I hope it goes the way we think it will. It never does, really. But sometimes it goes better.