Mike Flanagan, Answering Fans' Prayers, Will Adapt Stephen King's The Dark Tower
What was once every Stephen King fan's loss could suddenly turn into their ultimate dream come true. At this point, nobody needs much of a refresher on the disaster that was the 2017 "The Dark Tower" adaptation, which somehow took all the weirdest, most ambitious, and downright epic elements of the prolific author's magnum opus — consisting of seven total novels (and short stories) — and distilled it all into, well, one of the most disappointing blockbuster efforts in recent memory. But as any true King devotee knows, sometimes they come back. And in this case, the "they" is another live-action take on Stephen King's sprawling saga.
In news that will be music to the ears of many, Deadline reports that horror aficionado and tireless storyteller Mike Flanagan and his producing partner, Trevor Macy, have acquired the rights to what most consider to be Stephen King's most "unfilmable" story ever put to words. In an interview with the outlet, Flanagan has revealed that he's officially begun work on his "dream project," an adaptation of "The Dark Tower," that already consists of a written pilot script and entire season outlines (that's right, plural) for an ambitious television series. But wait, there's more! According to the report, Flanagan has planned this adaptation as a five-season television series that could be followed by two feature film spin-offs.
In Flanagan's own words:
"...we acquired the rights to 'The Dark Tower,' which if you know anything about me, you know it has been my Holy Grail of a project for most of my life. We actually have those rights carved out of our Amazon deal, which doesn't mean that they can't or won't get behind it at some point — you don't know. But that's something we've been developing ourselves and are really passionate about finally getting it up on its feet at some point."
Mike Flanagan sets his sights on The Dark Tower
Mike Flanagan has quickly made a name for himself as the go-to filmmaker to bring author Stephen King's works into the medium of live action, having successfully translated "Gerald's Game" and "Doctor Sleep" to the big screen, in addition to his seemingly never-ending output of television horror shows and miniseries. The filmmaker recently made headlines for his departure from the familiar confines of Netflix to the even more lucrative streaming pastures of Amazon Studios, though his above comments indicate that Amazon's involvement in producing and distributing his "The Dark Tower" series isn't set in stone — he could still take this project elsewhere.
With that said, that hasn't stopped Flanagan from diving headfirst into his plans for how to bring this lifelong ambition to the small screen under his Intrepid Pictures production company. He goes on to explain:
"I wrote a pilot, we view it as a series that's going at least five seasons. And having lived with this project as long as I have, I have an enormous amount of it worked out in my brain. But I have a pilot script I'm thrilled with and a very detailed outline for the first season and a broader outline for the subsequent seasons. I think eventually, if we're able to get it going, there are some other writers I want to fold into that process whom I've worked with before; I think they would be really fabulous for a very small, intimate writers' room where we can continue to break it."
Flanagan goes on to say that acquiring the rights to "The Dark Tower" only came about after receiving King's blessing. Should all go according to plan, we'll soon be hearing much more about his take on the legendary man in black and the gunslinger.