Idris Elba & Matthew McConaughey Lead Cast of Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' Movie!

After weeks of speculation regarding possible casting choices, the two leading characters of the big-screen adaptation of Stephen King's long-running Dark Tower book series have been announced, and it's two of the best actors working right now. Luther himself, Idris Elba, will be joining the movie adaptation as Roland "Gunslinger" Deschain against Matthew McConaughey's Man in Black.

It was the best-selling author who confirmed the news of the first two casting choices for the adaptation, taking to Twitter to say make the announcement by referencing the first line of the Dark Tower series.

"It's official: The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed. #DarkTowerMovie @McConaughey @IdrisElba," King tweeted on Tuesday morning.

Elba (or the actor's community manager) also went on the social network to share the news, retweeting King's original announcement and mentioning McConaughey while saying he had "one new follower," to which the Dallas Buyers Club Oscar winner swiftly replied "come and get me."

Dark Tower fans surely had fun with the little Twitter exchange.

.@idriselba come and get me, I look forward to it. #DarkTowerMovie https://t.co/4gxqm2GPo3

— Matthew McConaughey (@McConaughey) March 1, 2016

According to Vanity Fair, McConaughey had been rumored for the King villain for a while, ever since back in 2014 when it was reported that he was attached to play the Man in Black, real name Randall Flagg, on an unproduced adaptation of The Stand, another one of King's books where the character shows up.

As for Elba, King had said the Beasts of No Nation actor was in talks to play the lead role, which has raised a few eyebrows, as the character is originally written as a white man.

However, race-bending casting has worked for previous King adaptations: famously, Morgan Freeman played Red, a character written as Irish-American in The Shawshank Redemption, a role that earned him an Oscar nomination and is still one of his most iconic performances.

There are eight books and a series of comic books on King's Dark Towers series (and King's alternate Maine is an even broader spectrum), so if the first film does well, we could have these characters in the big screen for many years.