Calm Down, Stephen King Fans: Mike Flanagan Explains How His Dark Tower Adaptation Is Co-Existing With His Exorcist Movie
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Like many horror fans, I am stoked that writer/director Mike Flanagan is set to make the next movie in the Exorcist franchise. He has regularly proven over the last decade to be one of the most gifted filmmakers working in the genre, and if he has a vision of what the next chapter of that legendary canon should be, you can consider my ticket already purchased.
Like many Stephen King fans, however, I've also experienced some anxiety regarding that project. After all, Flanagan has been officially developing his dream adaptation of King's The Dark Tower series since late 2022, and his plans to make a new Exorcist film feels like it could be a distraction from that goal.
Today, we have good news from the man himself. The reality is that it's not a distraction, and his Exorcist project is instead a movie that is being made in parallel to The Dark Tower-related work that is on-going. Flanagan is a guest on the most recent episode of the podcast Talking Scared, and when asked if his franchise feature for Universal was getting "in the way" of his big King adaptation ambitions, he explains,
Oh, it's not in the way. They coexist very well. I think the trick with The Dark Tower is just it's still just takes an enormous amount of time to get going. But we're further along than the last time we spoke. It seems to be moving on its own momentum. There's so much logistical, boring, legal stuff that we have to kind of machete our way through to get that thing moving. But yeah, it has not at all stalled and none of the other work that's that's kind of emerged has in any way taken away from it.
Breathe a sigh of relief, fellow Constant Readers. While Mike Flanagan is keeping busy and further establishing himself as one of Hollywood's top tier talents, the big projects that are coming to him are apparently not altering his schedule in a way that is causing his adaptation of The Dark Tower to be delayed.
According to Flanagan, the reality of the situation is that The Dark Tower is such a big project that it has developed its own momentum, and amid that forward motion, he has some freedom to explore other opportunities. He expects there will be a point when its time comes and it will be ready to be his number one priority, but as he has done before, he is preaching patience. Flanagan continued,
It became so clear to me that that kind of oil tanker of a project was just gonna be moving along. It's perfectly feasible for me to be working on other things at the same time. And I wish that wasn't the case. And there's gonna be a point hopefully soon where that project needs to knock everything else outta the way, where Tower has to kind of assert itself. We're just not . And I couldn't make that the case now if I wanted to. There's just too much we're still having to kind of get through to get it up.
Of course, we can't forget that the untitled The Exorcist project isn't the only thing Mike Flanagan has been working on outside of The Dark Tower. His third Stephen King adaptation, based on the novella "The Life Of Chuck," went into production last year, and it is now set to make its world premiere this fall at the Toronto International Film Festival.
As evidenced by the fact that he has released at least one movie or TV show every year since 2016, Mike Flanagan is clearly a skilled multitasker, and he explained how he is able to let projects overlap during the Talking Scared interview:
No, there's nothing to worry about. I kind of equate it to when I did the Haunting of Hill House, I was writing the script for Doctor Sleep on set while we were shooting the show. And then when I filmed Doctor Sleep, the writer's room for Bly Manor was open, and the writers actually came to set to enjoy kind of some of the production of Doctor Sleep. The feature and TV worlds tend to, because of the way their schedules work, they tend to to be puzzle pieces that I've gotten very good at kind of fitting together.
Continuing, Mike Flanagan reiterated that there should be no concern about The Dark Tower being halted in any way, saying,
But Tower, people shouldn't worry at all. It hasn't missed a beat. It's it's just what a [laugh]... it's a behemoth and it does not move at the pace that, you know... The Exorcist is nimble [laugh]. It's this tiny little movie that just kind of dances and runs circles around everything else. So it's really no problem. But I appreciate the concern for sure.
Your concerns have been noted, and they've hopefully now been diluted.
Sadly, neither of Mike Flanagan's upcoming Stephen King projects presently have set release dates, but we do know that his Exorcist movie is currently on the horror movie calendar with a theatrical debut set for March 13, 2026. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for not only more updates about that project, but also everything else Flanagan currently has in the works.
