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The Dark Tower "Not At All Stalled" by The Exorcist: Mike Flanagan

Filmmaker Mike Flanagan made sure fans knew his work on The Exorcist does not impact the work being done on Stephen King's The Dark Tower.

When we last checked in on how things were going with Mike Flanagan, Trevor Macy, and Intrepid Pictures' upcoming adaptation of bestselling author Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" novels for television (along with two stand-alone films set within the universe), it was August 2023 and the entertainment industry was still feeling the impact of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Still, Flanagan shared with Fangoria's The Kingcast podcast that he was feeling "really good" with how things were progressing. "We have great partners on it that I can't talk about, and we've got some really exciting actors circling on it that I can't talk about," Flanagan shared. "And we have some potentially groundbreaking approaches to the filmmaking of it that I just can't really talk about … but what I can say is that my fears that any momentum we had developed was gonna be obliterated [by SAG-AFTRA & WGA strikes], well, I don't really worry about that."

But a lot has changed in nearly a year – especially with Flanagan's career, with his creativity and artistic expertise getting some big-time appreciation. With his adaptation of King's The Life of Chuck on the way, Flanagan was tapped to tackle a new take on The Exorcist – with the film set to hit screens in 2026. But that doesn't mean that "The Dark Tower" is being put on the back burner – a point that Flanagan made crystal clear during an episode of the Talking Scared podcast. "Oh, it's not in the way. They coexist very well. I think the trick with 'The Dark Tower' is it still just takes an enormous amount of time to get going. But we're further along than the last time we spoke. It seems to be moving on its own momentum. There's so much logistical, boring, legal stuff that we have to kind of machete our way through to get that thing moving," Flanagan shared. "But yeah, it has not at all stalled, and none of the other work that's kind of emerged has in any way taken away from it."

Mike Flanagan on Stephen King's The Dark Tower

"Predating our deal with Amazon, we acquired the rights to 'The Dark Tower,' which, if you know anything about me, you know has been my Holy Grail of a project for most of my life," Flanagan revealed during his and Trevor Macy's discussion of future projects with Deadline Hollywood in December 2022. "We actually have those rights carved out of our Amazon deal, which doesn't mean that they can't or won't get behind it at some point — you don't know. But that's something we've been developing ourselves and are really passionate about finally getting it up on its feet at some point." Here are some of the highlights, including how far along the project is in the development stage, that the project is aside from their deal with Amazon, and if they've spoken with King about their efforts.

Flanagan on Where Things Are at With "The Dark Tower": "I wrote a pilot; we view it 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."

Stephen King Is "Very, Very Supportive and Very Excited": "This [The Dark Tower] happened because I sent him a very, very detailed outline of what I wanted to do with it. And it was in response to that, that he gave us the rights. A project like this, I wouldn't want to be involved in it at all if we were taking it in a direction that was going to be blasphemous to the Stephen King material, but he's been very, very supportive and very excited about what we'd like to do with it."

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