After several false starts, it appears that a film adaptation of The Dark Tower series is finally making headway. According to multiple outlets, Mad Max: Fury Road actress Abbey Lee is in negotiations to star as Tirana, a female lead role in the movie. Idris Elba is set to play Roland Deschain (the Gunslinger) and Matthew McConaughey will be Randall Flag (the Man in Black). The Dark Tower, which Nikolaj Arcel is directing, is slated for a 2017 release date.

The books that make up the The Dark Tower series were written over a period of decades, and some changes to the narrative for a film adaptation aren't necessarily a bad thing — especially if it makes the overall story stronger. That's why it's interesting to see that the newest report about Tirana indicates she'll be getting more prominence in this film than she does in the novels.

In The Dark Tower books, Tirana is a powerful Breaker who was sent to prison in the Devar-Toi after she and other Breakers splintered off from Roland's ka-tet during Wolves of the Calla. She's a master of the ka-tet's weapon called The Way Station, and she has the ability to use it to open doors.

She's also strong in the ka-tet's mystical ability known as the Touch, which is a combination of telepathy, precognition, and hypersensitivity to the guiding hand of Ka. As a result, she's often a level-headed mediator between the ever pragmatic Roland and the ostensibly carefree Cuthbert.