Javier Bardem is one step closer to taking on the role of gunslinger Roland Deschain in "The Dark Tower," according to Deadline.

Bardem, who was recently nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for the film "Biutiful," is apparently close to finalizing an unprecedented deal, involving a role that encompasses three movies and a limited run television series.

With Bardem poised to join the project, director Ron Howard ("Da Vinci Code") is now looking at other actors to cast in supporting roles. Howard will helm the first feature film and the television component based on scripts from Akiva Goldsman ("I Am Legend," "Fringe"). Production on the first film begins in September.

"The Dark Tower" includes seven books and fuses elements of fantasy and horror with the western genre. The books follow Deschain -- the last of a knightly order of gunslingers -- as he takes on a quest to save the world and secure the key to the nexus of all universes.

Goldsman said the project will reflect “an alternate Americana, one part post-apocalyptic, one part Sergio Leone.”

Howard's ambitious adaption will kick off with a feature film and will be followed by the television chapter, which serves as the bridge to the second feature. After that sequel, the television component picks up again as a prequel, with Deschain as a young gunslinger. The final film follows a mature Deshain as he completes his journey.

Universal Pictures and NBC Universal Television Entertainment are producing the project along with Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment, King and Goldsman.