Director Mike Flanagan gives update on The Dark Tower TV show: 'We're on a great path'

The quest to properly adapt The Dark Tower books has been almost as epic a quest as the tale contained in Stephen King's series of novels. The person currently attempting to bring the story of The Gunslinger to the screen is The Haunting of Hill House director Mike Flanagan. During a Q&A at the Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday, Flanagan gave an update on his proposed version of King's fantastical yarn.

"That's the one I want to do the most," Flanagan said of The Dark Tower after being asked by moderator Justina Ireland to name his dream project. "I have the rights. We're on strike. But I'm very optimistic that we're on a great path with that, we have good partners, we can't talk about it, but I think it's going to happen. I can't say for certain, but we look good. So I'm hoping that's up there."

Gary Gershoff/WireImage Director Mike Flanagan

Last December, Deadline revealed that Flanagan and his producing partner Trevor Macy were working on an adaptation of The Dark Tower books, which the director envisioned as a five season TV series, followed by two stand-alone features.

"The pilot script is one of my favorite things I've ever gotten to work on," Flanagan said at the time. "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."

The Dark Tower was previously adapted into a 2017 film starring Idris Elba as protagonist Roland Deschain, a gunslinger from a postapocalyptic world who is searching for the titular tower that is the linchpin of multiple realities. The movie version — which also featured Matthew McConaughey as Roland's nemesis the Man in Black — was a critical and commercial flop, and Amazon passed on a subsequent TV pilot.

Flanagan has experience adapting King, with his previous directing credits including 2017's Gerald's Game and 2019's Doctor Sleep. The filmmaker's next project is miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher, which is based on Edgar Allen Poe's short story and is set to premiere on Netflix this fall.

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