Mike Flanagan Developing The Dark Tower TV Series

Mike Flanagan Developing The Dark Tower TV Series

Mastermind filmmaker Mike Flanagan continues his reign in the horror genre with the news that he will be developing Stephen King‘s The Dark Tower into a TV series. Flanagan recently announced that he would be making Prime Video his new home after a multi-year deal was made with Amazon Studios pulling him away from Netflix. Shortly after, the disappointing news of Midnight Club‘s cancellation came in which Flanagan gracefully treated fans to a blog post detailing all the events that would have occurred in season 2 of the series and answering burning questions.

Now, although he has signed this deal with Amazon Studios, the Stephen King adaptation is not guaranteed to land on Prime Video as Flanagan looks to shop it around with other streamers potentially giving the series a home. The universe of The Dark Tower is vast and is built upon an eight-novel series, a children’s book, and a short story. Flanagan’s vision is reportedly said to have envisioned the story to be encompassed in a five-season series run and two feature films. A pilot script has reportedly already been written by Flanagan as well.

Flanagan has gotten the rights and blessing from the horror icon himself as he previously shared his outline with King and King responded by giving Flanagan rights to the story along with his producing partner Trevor Macy. Flanagan said:

“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.

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. It’s going to have to get out of there eventually, I really need to get it out of my head.”

Flanagan is no stranger to the genre and continues to consistently provide fans with unique and captivating projects that have landed him as one of the most original filmmakers in horror cinema. He has delivered hit projects such as Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep, The Midnight Club, The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Gerald’s Game, Hush, Oculus, and the list goes on. He still has one more project in his bag of tricks with Netflix with The Fall of the House of Usher.

Prime Video has tried to bring to fruition an adaptation of The Dark Tower before with an adaptation from Glen Mazzara which could indicate their interest to work with Flanagan on this venture should the interest still be there. There was also a previous attempt to launch a film franchise for The Dark Tower with the Nikolaj Arcel adaptation starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey which fell short with fans and critics in 2017. With all due respect to these filmmakers, Flanagan’s vision puts him above the rest and his ability to weave a multi-layered story as ambitious as The Dark Tower is something that Flanagan is definitely capable of.

Source: Deadline