Mike Flanagan has made a compelling promise to fans of Stephen King's epic fantasy saga, The Dark Tower: his adaptation will stay true to the novels' expansive narrative. Given Flanagan's successful track record with King's works like Doctor Sleep and Gerald's Game, this assurance is particularly reassuring. Adding to the excitement, IGN has exclusively learned that Flanagan has enlisted a formidable ally in his creative journey—Stephen King himself.
During a roundtable interview for The Monkey, IGN inquired if King would be contributing new material to Flanagan's The Dark Tower, similar to his contributions to the 2020 Paramount+ series The Stand. King responded, "All I can say is it's happening. 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."
If he says so, let it be so.
The Essentials: Stephen King's Dark Tower Multiverse
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The Dark Tower stands as one of King’s most cherished and personal works, with the first novel, The Gunslinger, dating back to 1970. The extent of King’s involvement in Flanagan’s adaptation remains a topic of speculation. Notably, King penned an epilogue for the Paramount+ series The Stand, which enriched the narrative closure for the character Frannie Goldsmith. Given the vast and interconnected universe of The Dark Tower, which ties into nearly all of King’s fiction, the potential for King to expand and deepen his established world is immense.
Whatever new content King is crafting is likely to fit seamlessly into Flanagan's adaptation, especially since Flanagan has vowed to remain faithful to the source material. In a 2022 interview with IGN, Flanagan stated, "it would look like the books" and emphasized that "the way not to do The Dark Tower is to try to turn it into something else, to try to make it Star Wars or make it Lord of the Rings."
Flanagan further elaborated: "It is what it is, what it is is perfect. It's just as exciting as all of those things and just as immersive. It's a story about a tiny group of people, all the odds in the whole world are against them, and they come together. As long as it's that, it'll be fine and there won't be a dry eye in the house."
This commitment to fidelity is particularly comforting following the 2017 film adaptation of The Dark Tower, which starred Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey and was criticized for its disjointed narrative, pulling events from across King’s seven novels.
While the release date and format of Flanagan's The Dark Tower remain uncertain, fans can look forward to other Stephen King projects from Flanagan. His adaptation of King's short story The Life of Chuck is set to premiere in theaters in May, and he is also developing a Carrie series for Amazon, based on King's 1974 novel.
