Confirming recent rumors, Deadline is reporting that a new small-screen adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower from Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy’s Intrepid Pictures is in development for Prime Video.
Flanagan, who brought us the likes of Doctor Sleep, Gerald's Game, Midnight Mass and the Haunting of Netflix shows, has been hoping to get a new take on the classic tale off the ground for years, and now has the opportunity after acquiring the rights to the sprawling fantasy/sci-fi/horror/western book series from King himself.
While speaking to the trade, Flanagan outlined his ambitious plans for The Dark Tower, which include up to five seasons and (potentially) two features to wrap-up the story.
"I wrote a pilot, we view it as a as a series that’s going at least five seasons. And having lived with this project as long as I have, I have an enormous amount of it worked out in my brain. But 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 think eventually, if we’re able to get it going, there are some other writers I want to fold into that process whom I’ve worked with before; I think they would be really fabulous for a very small, intimate writers room where we can continue to break it.
I’ll tell you, more than half of my life, I’ve closed my eyes and been able to watch a lot of this play out, 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. 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. It’s been surreal working on that. So we’ve been floored and grateful that Stephen King trusts us with such an undertaking, something so precious to him, and we hope to find the right partners to realize it."
There have been several previous attempts to get an adaptation of The Dark Tower off the ground, and one actually came to fruition back in 2017 via a movie starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. Unfortunately, it was not very well-received critically or commercially, stopping a potential franchise dead in its tracks.