Deadline is reporting that a television series based on Wesley Chu’s Lives of Tao has been optioned by ABC Studios. Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas, the executive producers behind Agent Carter, will develop the series with Chris Dingess, late of Agent Carter and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. writing and executive producing as well. Wesley Chu will also serve as a consultant on the series.
The Lives of Tao series follows IT consultant Roen Tan, who becomes a secret agent when he’s taken over by an ancient alien named Tao. He soon learns that whether he likes it or not, he’s part of a terrifying alien civil war – and one side is quite willing to wipe humanity out in order to win. Roen must fight to save his species, while also training to become a real secret agent.
We’ll bring you more details soon, but in the meantime: who would you like to see as Roen Tan?
Oh Lord, this section. At first I was interested, but then it just…kept…going. King could have (and should have) cut 80% of Callahan’s tale without losing anything essential to the plot of the Dark Tower series (which is, after all, the story at hand…NOT ‘Salem’s Lot, which he already wrote once, thanks).
I really like Wolves of the Calla on the whole, but I make a point to skip this section in re-reads.
I’d completely forgotten this section. The Dark Tower series is all I’ve ever read of King, so I found this really interesting. Kind of makes me want to pick up Salem’s Lot.
Thanks Suzanne. I know I’m not around much, but I am keeping up!
@Tektonica…I’m glad you’re still following along!
@SKM…Yeah, it was fun to read at first because it’s been forever since I read Salem’s Lot…and then it kept going. I’m anxious to get to the stuff about Black Thirteen and how Callahan ended up (todash) in Bryn Sturgis. I assume most of that is coming in Callahan’s Tale Part II for next week.
I didn’t mind this section at all. It had been decades since I’d read ‘Salems Lot and had forgotten it almost entirely. I was ready and eager to hear Callahan’s story here.
@SKM,
I think King is purging some of his own demons here, maybe.
I suppose it could have been trimmed, but can you really get to what happened on the top floor of the offices of the xxxxxx corp without talking about Home? Could you get to the xxxxx xxx in book 6 without talking about Type 1, 2 and 3 vampires in book 5?
Callahan is a parallel of Roland in many ways, warrior of good, corrupted by power though he never lost sight of the good fight, now on a path to redemption. So going through Callahan’s story is the best we’ll get for more Roland backstory(for now), so I can see why we need to do it all.
But it does drag on for a bit. And like StrongDreams says above, there is some important info dropped on us in this story, even though it doesn’t all become relevant til later.
@SKM,
That was pretty much my reaction too. I liked Father Callahan in Salem’s Lot, and at first I was excited to see him and to find out what happened to him after he left Salem’s Lot. But then this story just went on, and on, and on, and on, and I realized I didn’t care that much. Admittedly, it Father Callahan’s story does set up some elements that we get to later, but honestly they’re elements that I think the Dark Tower would have been better without.
I’m pretty sure that Father Callahan’s role in Salem’s Lot ends with him getting on a bus out of town, and all the stuff on his bus trip and then with his arrival in New York is new, but it’s been a while for me too, and if someone else tells you differently, believe them rather than me.
@Lsana…That’s my last memory of him, too, so surely we can’t both be wrong :-)
Callahan’s story is actually my favorite part of Wolves of the Calla. ‘Salem’s Lot was the first of King’s novels I ever read. I remember finding it in the library just sitting on one of the tables, and I borrowed it on a whim and read it all in a night. When Callahan showed up in Dark Tower I was plesantly surprised.
On the “where did Callahan’s story stop in ‘Salem’s Lot” front, I also think it was with him getting on a bus out of town, but it’s been something like eight years since I’ve read that book. I wonder what made King keep Callahan alive in SL back then? I think it’s clear by now that King’s plans for Dark Tower changed drastically over time, and I wonder if he thought he’d ever continue the priest’s story down the line?
“The Port Authority is seedy?” It used to be. It used to be crawling with drug dealers and prostitutes, and muggings were regular, but that changed in the late-80’s and early-90’s when Mayor Guiliani started cleaning up the streets of New York, something that Bloomberg has continued to do.
One of the reasons I love Callahan’s story in this book is the symbolism and parallels with Roland’s story. Callahan stays at Home for nine months, the average time for a human pregnancy. It’s almost like Home served as his womb before he was reborn. It was there that he changed from Callahan, the drunk priest who didn’t really believe in the gospels he preached, to Father Callahan, True Believer, Vampire Hunter! It’s also the time he starts to become something of a Gunslinger himself. He doesn’t have the guns that Roland wears, but he has the conviction and the heart. He falls in love for the first time with a Delgado, he’s horribly scarred on his hand (King stops mentioning Roland’s missing fingers so much after The Wastelands), and his original ka-tet, which he was distant from, was broken in a horrible battle that the heroes lost.
You could chalk it up to King writing similar stories over and over again, but at least the man realized it and worked it in the series here.
Wow, I sure wrote a lot there.