Thanks to Mike Flanagan, The Dark Tower series will return to the screen once more. 2017 witnessed a less than successful film adaptation of the Stephen King books, but this time the novels will arrive as an Amazon series. The books tell the saga of a gunslinger and his quest for the fabled Dark Tower, a nexus of the multiverse. In a recent interview with Deadline, Flanagan revealed that he has acquired the rights to the works for the TV series.
Consisting of eight core novels and spin-off works that tie into the story, Stephen King’s magnum opus has proven difficult to adapt. The 2017 adaptation starring Idris Elba underperformed with both with critics and at the box office. Will Mike Flanagan have more success creating a proper Dark Tower adaptation? The director and writer is no stranger to King’s work, previously having directed two Stephen King adaptations, Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep. He also has had critical success with his Netflix horror adaptations, such as Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Hill House.
Most recently, Flanagan wrote and directed an adaptation of The Midnight Club for Netflix. Despite achieving a unique world record, Netflix decided not to renew the show for a second season. As of now, Flanagan still has plans to adapt The Fall of the House of Usher for Netflix. However, Intrepid Pictures, the company of Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy, will move production to Amazon for The Dark Tower.
News of The Dark Tower coming to Amazon has made the rounds since 2018. But at last, a creator has officially announced their attachment to the project. And while Amazon may have planned for the series for the last few years, Flanagan said in the interview that he has wanted to adapt King’s monumental work for some time:
I’ll tell you, more than half of my life, I’ve closed my eyes and been able to watch a lot of this play out, I’ve dreamed about this. That first shot which comes right off at the first incredible sentence of the first book, The Gunslinger, I’ve had that image just rattling around in my head since I was an undergrad.
In fact, Amazon actually let the rights lapse, and so Flanagan himself went to Stephen King to get the rights back and found him “very, very supportive” of the new adaptation. Though Amazon has yet to set any official release schedule, Flanagan envisions the adaptation as consisting of five seasons and two standalone films.
While this may sound like a lot, The Dark Tower consists of eight lengthy novels. It also ties into other works by the famed horror author as well. For those who’d like to get a taste of the series, King wrote a prequel novella as part of his short story collection Everything’s Eventual. In the meantime, fans of the series may wish to check out the graphic novel series of The Dark Tower, chronicling the origin of protagonist Roland.
