Over the last decade Mike Flanagan has quickly become a horror icon thanks to his twisted films like Oculus and mind-blowing scares on TV like Midnight Mass. Late last year it was reported that Flanagan had a series adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower in the works. Now, King himself has broken his silence on the potential series and gave his terrifying stamp of approval.
Responding to a passionate fan on Twitter eager for both Flanagan and Amazon to make the series, King simply said, “The writer happens to agree.” Now this shouldn’t be all too surprising as both Flanagan and King seem to have a great working relationship that started with the underrated 2017 Netflix gem Gerald’s Game. The critical success of that film would lead to Flanagan’s biggest film to date, 2019’s Doctor Sleep. The Shining sequel may have not done as well as horror fans hoped at the box office, but it’s one of the best films of any genre to come out in the last half decade. On top of that, both Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game are two of the best films based on King's work. Doctor Sleep in particular is such a grand horror epic which makes Flanagan the perfect person to tackle Dark Tower. Especially after the poorly received 2017 film adaptation.
Flanagan’s The Modern King of Horror Adaptations
While King's Dark Tower series spans eight novels, a short story, and a children’s book, Flanagan’s plans right now are a five season series with two follow-up feature films. The writer-director, as of the end of last year, has already written a pilot that he’s very happy with. Flanagan ended his deal with Netflix in late 2022 and signed a new first look deal with Amazon. However, if the series does happen, the filmmaker plans to shop Dark Tower around.
Flanagan has become the king of horror adaptations. Besides his work with King, Flangan has adapted Shirley Jackson’s writing in The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor and Christopher Pike’s writing in The Midnight Club. Flanagan’s next adaptation and last project for Netflix, The Fall of the House of Usher, is based on various works from Edgar Allan Poe. That plans to release sometime this year. Until we hear more news on Dark Tower, you can view Collider’s recent interview with Flanagan down below.