2017 is a good year to be a Stephen King fan. The prolific author not only has a new book, Sleeping Beauties, out in September, but several of his most famous works are being adapted into TV series (Mr. Mercedes) and feature films (IT, The Dark Tower). The Dark Tower in particular is an interesting case, as King’s sprawling, eight-book fantasy series has had a long, hard road to the big screen and part of the reason for that is because of just how dense its story and mythology is. Many of King’s novels are connected in some way, but The Dark Tower operates at the center of King’s fictional universe and is filled with all sorts of nods and allusions to the author’s other works (take a look at this list for some specifics).
While The Dark Tower movie, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, is a lot less complex than King’s story as it exists on the page, it’s still filled with quite a few callbacks to the author’s stories which are sure to please longtime fans. We probably missed a few (and please let us know if we did!) but here are all the Easter Eggs hiding in The Dark Tower.
Warning: SPOILERS for The Dark Tower are discussed
12. Overlook Hotel Picture
There are a number of references to The Shining spread throughout The Dark Tower, but one that is easy to miss is the photo of the Overlook Hotel that is sitting on a shelf in Jake’s therapist’s office. The hotel, of course, is the location where Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick’s unsettling 1980 adaptation) and his family serve as caretakers for a winter as Jack loses his mind and eventually tries to kill his wife and son. Perhaps Jake’s therapist likes to vacation there?
Sony Pictures