Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower Series Needs a Massive Budget

When filmmaker Mike Flanagan announced in 2022 that he’d obtained the rights to develop a TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, Constant Readers everywhere breathed a sigh of relief. Several attempts have been made to adapt the sprawling and surreal dark fantasy series for the big and small screen, and the dismally received 2017 feature film barely scratched the surface of King’s imaginative world. But if anyone could pull it off, it would be Mike Flanagan.

But in order to truly give Dark Tower fans the adaptation they’ve been hoping for, the show would need a gigantic budget to faithfully depict the series’ massive fantasy world, which draws from Old West tales, Arthurian legends, and fantasy epics. The Dark Tower is a series that goes in all kinds of fascinating and unexpected directions, connecting to many of King’s most iconic works. In the current risk-averse Hollywood landscape, will whoever ponies up to produce the series give it the resources it needs?

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Mike Flanagan’s The Dark Tower: The Great Old Ones Should Have a Presence

Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower adaption needs to include the history of this fantasy world, including the Great Old Ones.

Why the Novels Are in Good Hands

Flanagan has proven his bona fides as a King fan with a knack for adapting his work, taking on the supposedly “unfilmable” novel Gerald’s Game and turning it into a winning adaptation for Netflix in 2017, the same year The Dark Tower landed with a thud. His next film was Doctor Sleep in 2019, an adaptation of King’s follow-up to The Shining that managed to succeed as a sequel to both the novel and the 1980 Stanley Kubrick film.

He has largely pivoted to limited series since then, releasing the likes of 2021’s Midnight Mass and 2023’s The Fall of the House of Usher to general acclaim, but his next film is yet another King adaptation, The Life of Chuck, set to be released in May. Beyond his direct adaptations, Flanagan’s original works show a definite King influence, with their emphasis on multifaceted characters and narratives that combine horror with genuine emotion.

All the pieces are in place to make Flanagan an ideal person to take on The Dark Tower, finally bringing to completion something that Hollywood has struggled to do for years. It’s clear he’s got the creative talent to knock it out of the park. What remains to be seen is whether the money will follow.

The Dark Tower’s Uncertain Future

To date, little concrete information has been released about The Dark Tower series. It’s still very early in development, and it’s not even known exactly where or when the series will premiere. Amazon Prime seems like the most likely landing spot, since Flanagan and his producing partner Trevor Macy moved their overall TV production deal from Netflix to Amazon back in 2022, but Flanagan’s acquiring of the rights to The Dark Tower actually predates that move. Speaking to Variety in 2022, Flanagan said that the rights were “carved out” of their Amazon deal, so it’s possible the show might end up somewhere else.

Amazon itself bought the rights in 2018 with the aim of developing a TV series, but abandoned the project in 2020. Still, Amazon seems like one of the only companies that could feasibly give Flanagan the budget he needs to do The Dark Tower right, with their massive coffers and an overall business that doesn’t depend almost entirely on their streaming subscriber revenue like Netflix. Prime Video isn’t as profitable for Amazon as other streaming services, but the upshot of this is that they may be willing to put more money into a project that they believe in.

For a recent example, The Rings of Power is believed to be the most expensive TV series ever made, and thus far it’s been met with largely lukewarm reception from Lord of the Rings fans. If Amazon were willing to give Flanagan a significant portion of the resources they’ve poured into The Rings of Power, it’s likely he could work wonders with it.

For similar reasons, another streamer that could possibly take up the task is Apple TV+. Like Prime Video, the streaming arm of Apple isn’t as crucial to the company’s overall success, and they’ve shown their willingness to bankroll big-budget adaptations of sci-fi series like Foundation and Silo, which have been met with generally positive response. Apple’s series have largely struggled to break into the broader cultural conversation (give or take a Severance), but they seem less dependent on bringing in new subscribers than Netflix or Hulu.

While the future of The Dark Tower is still somewhat uncertain, the amount of excitement it’s already generated from King fans makes it unlikely it wouldn’t find a home somewhere. Hollywood has been less likely to bankroll ambitious and unwieldy projects in recent years without the promise of a decent return on investment, but Stephen King remains one of the most bankable names in the business. His work continues to be adapted at a feverish pace, with new projects announced nearly every quarter. Whichever streamer writes the checks for The Dark Tower will likely be richly rewarded, just as long as the checks are big enough.

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Stephen King

Stephen King is one of the most prolific living authors. A master of horror, King’s classic works include The Shining, Carrie, Cujo, It, and the Dark Tower series. Many of his books and short stories have been adapted to film and television, including The Shawshank Redemption, Lisey’s Story, 1408, Secret Window, and The Stand.

Birthdate

September 21, 1947

Birthplace

Portland, Maine

Notable Projects

The Shining
, Cujo
, The Shawshank Redemption
, It
, Carrie