Mike Flanagan Is Making A TV Series Based On “The Dark Tower”
Rights to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower books for a TV series have been taken over by director Mike Flanagan and producer Trevor Macy, according to an exclusive interview of deadline. In the interview (which explored the production company of horror duo Intrepid Pictures moving from Netflix to Amazon), Flannagan confirmed that King himself granted them the rights after receiving a “very, very detailed outline” of Flanagan’s plans for the project.
The horror duo is best known for creating shows for Netflix, such as Midnight Mass and The Ghost of Hill Houseand have previously collaborated to adapt other works by Stephen King, including Doctor Sleep (2019) and Gerald’s game (2017). The pair acquired the rights to The Dark Tower prior to Intrepid Pictures’ recent deal with Amazon Video, and as such, the show isn’t guaranteed to be exclusive to the Amazon Prime streaming platform.
The show is not guaranteed as an Amazon Exclusive, such as rights to adapt The Dark Tower were acquired prior to Flanagan’s deal with Amazon Video
“Prior to our deal with Amazon, we acquired the rights to ‘The Dark Tower,’ and if you know anything about me, you know it’s been my holy grail of a project for most of my life,” said Flanagan against deadline. “We actually took those rights out of our Amazon deal, which doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t get behind it at some point — you don’t know. But that’s something we’ve developed ourselves and we’re really passionate about finally getting it up and running at some point.”
It’s early days so details are thin, but Flannagan also confirms within the deadline Interview that he has already written a pilot episode and that he views the project as “five seasons of television, followed by two standalone feature films”.
Previous attempts to adapt the Kings dark fantasy series have not been well received. The Dark Tower (2017), starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, was panned by critics and audiences alikeand Amazon’s previous plans for a seven-season adaptation have been canceled in 2020 after a pilot had already been filmed. With any luck, Flanagan and Macy can use some much-needed magic and create an adaptation that fans are really on board with.
