Why Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King Adaptation Is “Taking Forever” Thoughtfully Explained By Horror Director

Entzhood2 days ago

Director Mike Flanagan talks about what’s holding him back when adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. The director, having brought several Stephen King adaptations to life, was tapped by Amazon Studios to tackle The Dark Towers series, which has a reputation for being hard to crack. The Dark Tower consists of 8 novels and follows Roland Deschain and his Ka-Tet on an epic quest to reach the Tower. Flanagan’s attachment to the project was confirmed in 2022, and recently, updates have been flooding in.

Screen Rant was in attendance at Flanagan’s House of Usher panel at the New York Comic Con, where the director gave an update on the adaptation. Flanagan admitted that there are “questions that keep [him] up at night” and “it’s taking forever,” but he also has a plan to bring a faithful adaptation that would represent the “astonishing universe” King built. He plans on telling a “simple story” about Roland pursuing The Man in Black after the opening line of The Dark Tower “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”

These are the questions that keep me up at night. The only way to do it is to just do the books. The thing about The Dark Tower that’s so incredible is Stephen King builds an astonishing universe and it’s huge. It’s populated with such a richness of characters and scale and scope, eventually, but he starts that story with one person following another person in the barren desert. It’s one of the greatest opening lines of all time. That’s how you do it. You start with two people and a simple story. One is trying to catch the other. That’s it. It’s taking forever.

A Work In Progress That Is Slowly Coming Together

Amazon has previously tried to bring a television series to life, but after shooting the pilot, the studio canceled the original Dark Tower show due to its failure to meet the standard of other big-budget fantasy series. Flanagan’s comment confirms that the challenge of adapting The Dark Tower is there, but he’s consistently working on the series. Flanagan has successfully adapted King works that would seem nearly impossible with Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and the upcoming Life of Chuck, so there is hope that he continues his streak of positive adaptations.

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The director confirms that he has a start. While there are more questions to address before bringing The Dark Tower to life, his comment indicates that he has made a lot of progress and has an approach and idea of what he’d like to do about the series. His comment also suggests that while there are challenges, he isn’t settling down on anything less than what the series deserves. Flanagan is taking the necessary time to bring forth a quality adaptation that would do justice to the books.

Our Take on The Dark Tower Adaptation

It’ll Be Worth the Wait

An illustration of Roland holding his pistol and a rose at the base of the tower from The Dark Tower book series

The series had been previously adapted for the big screen, but The Dark Tower movie was generally considered unsuccessful, with King himself finding one of the biggest challenges being trying to fit too much into one film. Given that the book series begins as a smaller Western tale, with some magical elements in it, Flanagan’s starting point makes sense.

Flanagan’s approach to The Dark Tower directly brings the story to its core. Instead of being overwhelmed by the world-building in Stephen King’s novels, the director will pick up at the beginning of the story. The adaptation will be different from the books due to the difference in media and rights issues, as the story has elements from The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, and Marvel Comics. Sorting out what to leave out will be one of the challenges, but by focusing on the core story and using it as a guide, the wait hopefully won’t be long.

The Dark Tower

The Dark Tower is a multimedia franchise based on Stephen King’s epic series of eight novels. The story follows Roland Deschain, the last of the Gunslingers, as he embarks on a quest to reach the Dark Tower, a mystical structure that stands at the center of all worlds and realities. The series blends elements of dark fantasy, horror, science fiction, and Western genres. Over the years, the franchise has expanded beyond the original books to include a film, comic books, and upcoming TV adaptations, making it one of King’s most ambitious and interconnected works.

Upcoming TV ShowsThe Dark Tower

Character(s)Roland Deschain , The Man in Black , Jake Chambers , Eddie Dean , Susannah Dean , Oy , The Crimson King , Stephen Deschain , Sayre , Tirana

Summary

The Dark Tower is a multimedia franchise based on Stephen King’s epic series of eight novels. The story follows Roland Deschain, the last of the Gunslingers, as he embarks on a quest to reach the Dark Tower, a mystical structure that stands at the center of all worlds and realities. The series blends elements of dark fantasy, horror, science fiction, and Western genres. Over the years, the franchise has expanded beyond the original books to include a film, comic books, and upcoming TV adaptations, making it one of King’s most ambitious and interconnected works.