Mike Flanagan has confirmed that his planned television adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower will follow the novels in publication order, beginning with The Gunslinger.
The filmmaker, known for The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and Prime Video’s recent adaptation of Carrie, discussed the project in a new interview. He was asked about the most difficult work he had adapted and unexpectedly nominated Warhammer rather than The Dark Tower.
Why Flanagan wants to start with The Gunslinger
Flanagan believes King’s books already provide the ideal entry point for a story that eventually expands into a sprawling multiverse. The opening introduces Roland the Gunslinger pursuing the man in black across a desert, giving viewers two characters and one clear objective before gradually widening the setting.
His approach is therefore deliberately straightforward: adapt the novels from the beginning and let the wider mythology develop step by step. Flanagan said that starting in the middle of the saga, or jumping to another point, could overwhelm an audience unfamiliar with the world.
“You do the books,” Flanagan said, pointing to the way King builds the story one element at a time.
That means the series is intended to open with 1982’s The Gunslinger before moving through the rest of King’s seven-book saga. The plan reflects a broader preference for respecting the structure of the source material rather than using the mythology as a starting point without context.
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What is known about the planned adaptation?
Flanagan announced in December 2022 that he had acquired the rights to develop a television series based on King’s books. His proposed structure would span five seasons, with each season covering one of the first five novels, followed by two films adapting the final two books.
The project is set to be produced by Flanagan’s Intrepid Pictures as part of his continuing deal with Prime Video. However, the production has taken time to progress because The Dark Tower draws on characters and material from other Stephen King novels. Flanagan has said the team has been working through the complicated legal process required to secure those rights.
Flanagan has described the production as “an oil tanker of a project”, while stressing that it is still moving forward. No release date has been provided in the supplied information.
A second screen version after the 2017 film
The planned series follows a 2017 film adaptation starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. Flanagan’s version is intended to take a longer-form approach, giving the books’ characters, mythology and connected worlds more room to unfold.
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