Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’ TV Series in the Works from Mike Flanagan
Hot on the heels of leaving Netflix for Amazon, horror creator Mike Flanagan already has his next big project lined up. The creator of spooky TV favorites like “The Haunting of Hill House,” “Midnight Mass,” and “The Midnight Club” has acquired the rights to adapt Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” book series.
Flanagan revealed the news in a Deadline interview with his producing partner Trevor Macy about their jump from Netflix to Amazon, where they recently inked an overall deal.
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“Predating our deal with Amazon, 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,” Flanagan told Deadline. “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.”
According to Flanagan and Macy, their production company Intrepid Pictures picked up the rights to King’s sprawling franchise when Flanagan contacted the author himself with a detailed outline for his planned adaptation, which would consist of five seasons followed by two feature-length films wrapping the project up. King — whose novels “Gerald’s Game” and “Doctor Sleep” were previously adapted to film by Flanagan — was impressed with the pitch and gave Intrepid the rights. Because the deal came before the company moved to Amazon, the series could potentially end up at another streamer or channel, though Amazon Prime still remains a possible destination for the show.
King’s “The Dark Tower” series first began in 1982 with the publication of “The Gunslinger” and continued for seven more novels, the last of which was published in 2012. An eclectic mix of horror, fantasy and the Western genres, the series revolves around Roland Deschain, a member of a knightly order known as the Gunslingers traveling to the titular tower, said to be the nexus point of ever universe. In addition to the sprawling main series, the “Dark Tower” also crosses over with other King books, featuring many of the most famous characters and locations from the celebrated horror author.
“The Dark Tower” previously received a film adaptation in 2017, with Idris Elba starring as Roland. The film, which was technically a sequel to the book series, received negative reviews from critics, though Elba’s performance received some praise. Amazon also previously worked on a pilot for a series adaptation of the books, with Sam Strike and Jasper P??kk?nen leading the cast, but ultimately decided not to move forward with the project.
Flanagan is best known for the series he created at Netflix with Intrepid, including the two “Haunting” limited series and “Midnight Mass.” His final show for the streamer created under his previous overall deal, the Edgar Allan Poe adaptation “The Fall of the House of Usher,” is currently in post-production and expected to release next year.
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