THE DARK TOWER Gets A Promising Update From Mike Flanagan As He Vows Not To Let Stephen King Down

THE DARK TOWER Gets A Promising Update From Mike Flanagan As He Vows Not To Let Stephen King Down

Mike Flanagan recently adapted another Stephen King novel in The Life of Chuck, and the twisted mind behind Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher has now shared an update on plans for The Dark Tower.

By JoshWilding - Jun 03, 2025 06:06 PM EST
Filed Under: Sci-Fi
Source: SFFGazette.com

2017's The Dark Tower had all the makings of a great movie and was meant to kickstart a new franchise that expanded across theaters and streaming. Unfortunately, it was a mess that not even A-List leads Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey could save. 

As a result, the property, which is based on an incredible series of novels by Stephen King, fell by the wayside. With a worldwide box office haul of $113.2 million on a reported $66 million budget, it's easy to see why most studios had little interest in picking up where the movie left off. 

Filmmaker Mike Flanagan, who has previously adapted King novels Gerald's Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck, announced that he'd optioned the rights for a potential Prime Video series in late 2022. 

He's shared a few minor updates since then, confirming that he's written scripts for the series. Talking to ComicBook.com (via SFFGazette.com), Flanagan didn't provide a concrete timeline for the start of production, but assured fans that he remains hard at work on what sounds like an ambitious adaptation.

"It's not that I've put it down. It's just that the thing is so big, it's like building an oil tanker," Flanagan said of his approach to The Dark Tower. "We've been moving it forward this whole time. It's just, that's how big it is. It's constantly in the works, and you better believe as often as you guys may want to ask about it, Stephen King is asking me about it more, and I'm not gonna let him down."

In 2022, Flanagan confirmed that his take on The Dark Tower will run "at least five seasons." He added, "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’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," Flanagan continued. "It’s going to have to get out of there eventually, I really need to get it out of my head. The pilot script is one of my favorite things I’ve ever gotten to work on."

The Dark Tower will need to be a hit for any streamer to commit to telling this story over multiple seasons, and Flanagan will likely have to deliver one batch of episodes at a time. It's a complex story that will likely require a big budget; fortunately, enough time has passed since the 2017 movie that this take would feel like something new. 

Flanagan, however, has found huge success on streaming with his Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western, The Dark Tower tells the story of a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical.

The series established King's Multiverse and, in doing so, links together many of his other novels (long before Hollywood caught on to the idea). 

As always, stay tuned for updates on The Dark Tower as we have them.

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BobGarlen
BobGarlen - 6/3/2025, 6:32 PM
I'd love to see Boyd Holbrook as either the Man in Black or Roland. If Holbrook did play Roland, we'd need Walton Goggins as The Man in Black.
1stDalek
1stDalek - 6/3/2025, 6:35 PM
If he does it right, it won't be too bad if it only gets a season because The Gunslinger is perfect little 1-off book, it has a clear story arc told from beginning to end that it perfectly stands on its own.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 6/3/2025, 7:20 PM
@1stDalek - I dont know about that...

I mean, the Oracle? The crap the Man in Black tells him?

It ends setting the stage for a lot of things to come.
1stDalek
1stDalek - 6/5/2025, 2:39 AM
@CorndogBurglar - While yes, you're right that the end is good sequel set-up, but the meat of the story is a fairly straightforward chase story and the Man in Black gets his definitive end at the end (before it got retconned in the sequels). I think it would still work rather than feel like you're only getting a weird incomplete story.
RolandD
RolandD - 6/3/2025, 6:45 PM
Finally, an update. Every time I see something about Flanagan working on this or that in my head I’m like
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Batmangina
Batmangina - 6/3/2025, 7:04 PM
THE MOVIE WASN'T THAT BAD.

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TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 6/3/2025, 7:04 PM
Well , it’s good to know that he’s still working on it even if it may be on the back burner as opposed to the Carrie tv show and new Exorcist film he’s doing.

I have never read the novels but the world from what I know has always sounded fascinating to me so I hope to do so asap…

It’s unfortunate that the movie was a dud since it had potential imo but hopefully this turns out better if/when it happens which I think it will given the care Flanagan seems to be putting in it.
RolandD
RolandD - 6/3/2025, 8:28 PM
@TheVisionary25 - I wholeheartedly recommend reading the books. I love this series which one can tell by my username. It is Stephen King’s version of.The Lord of the Rings, and that it is an epic tail, but a completely different story. In typical, self deprecating fashion he doesn’t hold it up to be the quality of the Lord of the Rings, but it was his stab at an epic tale. The characters and their epic journey are part of what make it for me.


TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 6/3/2025, 8:29 PM
@RolandD - User Comment Image
RolandD
RolandD - 6/3/2025, 8:49 PM
@TheVisionary25 - LOLO. I just re-watched that movie.
StSteven
StSteven - 6/4/2025, 10:31 PM
@TheVisionary25 - I believe that @RolandD and I have talked about our mutual love for the series (particularly as I was introduced to it by one of my best friends in high school who went by the nickname of "Roland" because of his love for the books), and, yeah, it's that great (I'd venture to say even better than LotR for various reasons). Here are a couple of interesting facts that you might like about it (spoiler free):

- He started writing the first of the 7 main novels in 1978 and it took him 4 years (during the time when he was... "self-medicating" quite a bit). The whole thing was essentially a pet project of his, until it wasn't (see next point)
- By the time he got to Book IV, the series had become so popular that people were literally camping out in front of book stores for the release of that book (the first time that I can recall that happening). This became the premise for the movie "In the Mouth of Madness" where a writer (named Sutter Kane - get it?) has become SO famous and SO many people have read his books that the general population believes the version of reality that is in his books (you should definitely check out the movie if you haven't)
- While the first book starts off as a pretty straight-forward "cowboy badass guy on a quest" kind of story (with some fantastical elements), it gets increasingly weirder with each successive book (in a good way) and by the time you get to Book IV he starts pulling in characters from other novels he's written to the point where if you were in college or whatever at the time you'd likely be sitting around with your buddies getting stoned and going "Wait wait wait... how the f**k are _______ and ________ and ______ even in this book?!? And what's with that crazy-ass train?!?"
- Don't get me wrong, it all makes sense but still even near the end he pulls in probably the last character you'd ever expect, and for me I had to put the book down and get up and take a break because I was like "Holy f**k! Did he just- ?!? I mean... holy f**k!!!". Yeah, it's THAT good.
- This is generally regarded as King's magnum opus (and I firmly believe that it is), and it's also been regarded as unfilmable (I'm sure folks also said the same thing about LotR), and you'll see why folks would say that, but I trust Flanagan to get as close as anyone reasonably can. With that in mind, the 2017 film with Elba was, in my opinion, not anywhere even remotely close to how awesome the books are, so I really hope Flanagan knocks this out of the park, regardless of how long it takes.

@RolandD Did I leave anything out worth mentioning or mischaracterize anything? It's been almost 2 decades since I finished the series so I'm going off memory here.
StSteven
StSteven - 6/5/2025, 1:09 AM
@RolandD - Ha! Same here. Started my way through rewatching the MCU movies a couple of weeks ago. Just finished "CA:WS". Such a damn good movie. Watching "CA:CW" as we speak. Great as well. Cheers!🍻
RolandD
RolandD - 6/5/2025, 9:43 PM
@StSteven @TheVisionary25 - I think you acquitted yourself quite well. I had no idea about the people camping out for the books and part because by the time I read the series, it was completely out except for The Wind Through The Keyhole, which for you Viz is a book that he wrote after the series was complete, and is book 4.5 and is mostly a tale from the Gunslinger/Roland’s younger days. What I probably enjoy about the series. The most is the character characters. A lot of of it is Roland with his peers who are also going to become gunslingers and were his ka-tet kind of a group of friends with a purpose. That is also from a tale from his younger days and then he establishes another ka-tet in the present day who go on this quest with him. He changes them and they change him and I will leave it at that, but I’m about to reread it after talking about it so much.
RolandD
RolandD - 6/5/2025, 9:45 PM
@RolandD - I really should learn to proofread. It’s my optimism that I always think that it’s going to come out just the way I said it.
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