The long-awaited film adaptation of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series is finally in production, and star Idris Elba has clearly been enjoying connecting with fans of the books on social media. Elba's most recent post teases some key background info about his character, and the mythology of the series.

The actor took to Twitter over the weekend to share an image that says, "Remember the face of your father," and captioned the post, "I am Roland, son of Steven, son of Henry, true descendant of Arthur. And I have not forgotten."


According to The A.V. Club, the post reveals a lot about Elba's protagonist, Roland Deschain, a.k.a. The Gunslinger. Here's the scoop from the site:

The "Arthur" he's referencing is Arthur Eld, the Dark Tower universe's take on King Arthur, whose legendary sword Excalibur was melted down to make the revolvers that Roland carries on his quest. Also, the symbol in the picture is Arthur Eld's sigil from the books, and "remember the face of your father" is a well-known expression in that world that essentially means "keep it together." In other words, these are solid references that seem to indicate that the people making this movie actually know what they're doing.

That's certainly good news for diehard fans of the series, who've no doubt been a bit confused about some of the odd casting intel that's leaked since the flick was first announced. Here, it appears Elba -- and the rest of the creative team, including director Nikolaj Arcel -- is committed to keeping the core of the series intact as it prepares to finally hit the big screen. We're eager to see just how faithful the final product turns out to be.

"The Dark Tower" is due in theaters on February 17, 2017.

[via: Idris Elba, h/t The A.V. Club]

Photo credit: Getty Images