Dark Tower Streaming Series Gets Important Update (Straight From Stephen King)

It’s been said that The Dark Tower can’t be adapted to the screen, but who better to try than the author who wrote the novels in the first place. During a roundtable discussion at IGN Fan Fest this weekend, Stephen King revealed that he is contributing writing to the new Dark Tower adaptation by Mike Flanagan. He didn’t give many details on the extent of his involvement or the progress of the project, which still seems to be in the early stages of development. Both King and Flanagan have other projects to work on, including the movie King was there to promote, The Monkey, which is in theaters now.

When Paramount produced its 2020 adaptation of King’s novel The Stand, the author contributed by writing new material for the story in this retelling. When asked if he would do the same for The Dark Tower, he was cautious. “All I can say is it’s happening,” he said. “I am writing stuff now and I think that’s all I want to say because the next thing you know, I’ll stir up a bunch of stuff I don’t necessarily want to stir up yet. I’m in process right now, and to say too much feels like a jinx.”

It’s an apt comparison as The Stand was published in 1978, just a few years before the first book in The Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger, which came out in 1982. The Stand ties into The Dark Tower series a lot, and is considered by some fans to be an essential part of the story.

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King has described The Dark Tower as his magnum opus, but attempts to adapt it to the screen have not gone well. The film adaptation released in 2017 was a critical and commercial flop, but it did show the interest of an active fandom, as well as some creators who were eager to take on the challenge.

Flanagan has successfully adapted King’s work before, and created some of his own work with aesthetic and thematic similarities to King’s. Flanagan sought out the rights to The Dark Tower series himself, and he told IGN he thinks the best way to do the saga justice is to translate it to the screen as faithfully as possible. With King as a collaborator, it can’t get much more faithful than that.

Still, there’s no word on when Flanagan’s Dark Tower might begin production or when we might see it for ourselves. The filmmaker is currently slated to direct a reboot of The Exorcist, and a series adaptation of King’s novel Carrie. He is also writing the upcoming Clayface movie for the DCU, not to mention any other projects that may not be public yet.

For now, fans can check out The Dark Tower novels in print, digital, and audiobook formats. Just about any other novel by King will have some kind of connection to this series, if you look hard enough.