Mike Flanagan Teases His TV and Film Plans for Stephen King's THE DARK TOWER Series
There have been several attempts by filmmakers and writers to tackle the behemoth that is Stephen King’s The Dark Tower novel series. At one point, Ron Howard was attached to the title, but it fell apart. Then the 2017 film was made, and although some fans dug it, it was a box office flop, and that stopped the future of the franchise in that incarnation.
Now, Mike Flanagan, who is a trusted auteur in the horror genre, having made The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and the upcoming Exorcist film, is at the helm of The Dark Tower, and he has a few things to say about the project.
In a recent interview with THR, Flanagan was asked if he envisions the project as a show or film. He explained:
“That thing’s launching an oil tanker. But we’re working on. It was stalled first by me moving from Netflix to Amazon and stalled again by the strikes. It’s progressing, and we’re further along than we’ve ever been on it. I do see feature components to some of the other stories, but the main storyline is ongoing series.”
Flanagan is no stranger to King’s work, having previously adapted Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and the upcoming film The Life of Chuck, which debuts at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. He got into reading the author as a kid, and he raved about his hero in the interview, stating:
“I couldn’t watch horror movies as a kid. They scared me too much. To try to hang out with my peers, I thought I could read scary books to get braver.
Stephen King was one of the first authors that I encountered, and I learned the hard way that it’s much scarier on the page. And, yes, the clowns and monsters are terrifying.
But it only works because of his incredible humanistic care for the characters. He’s always been my hero as a writer.”
If Flanagan has his way, this won’t be his final King adaptation either. When asked if he had a project that got away yet in his career, the filmmaker said:
“I wrote a script for Stephen King’s Revival, one of my favorite things I’ve ever written, but it fell apart. That’s gone now because I have The Dark Tower. Stephen doesn’t like to have you sitting on more than one thing at a time. It means something’s not getting made.”
Hopefully we will get to see Flanagan’s Revival one day. For now, stay tuned for a release date for both The Life of Chuck, and The Dark Tower. Who do you hope to see get cast in this series?