Mike Flanagan currently has multiple Stephen King adaptations in various stages of development, and we’ve got status updates on each one. While his Carrie series is preparing to premiere on Prime Video on October 7, Flanagan has confirmed that his long-awaited The Dark Tower TV series is still very much in development. Meanwhile, he has revealed that he is currently writing his adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist.
The updates come from two recent interviews. Flanagan spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the state of The Dark Tower, while he told Collider that he is actively writing The Mist and expects to turn in the screenplay around Halloween.
For years, The Dark Tower has been Mike Flanagan’s dream Stephen King adaptation. The sprawling story follows gunslinger Roland Deschain on his quest to reach the mysterious Dark Tower, and Flanagan has long envisioned the property as a television series that could properly explore King’s mythology. The project has been in development for years, but the fact that Flanagan is now preparing to launch Carrie on Prime Video has raised questions about the status of The Dark Tower.
According to Flanagan, the project is still alive. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, he said The Dark Tower is “very much on the table,” although there are significant obstacles standing between the project and production.
“To do it the way I wanna do it requires an enormous commitment from a studio. The way the Dark Tower universe is connected, you’ve got characters in there that are all over the place when it comes to studio ownership. So the development process on it has been epic. It, of course, has taken much longer than I’d like it to, but I work on it all the time. It’s never stopped moving. It just moves at its own oil-tanker pace.”
The Dark Tower hasn’t been abandoned, but there is also no indication that the series is about to enter production. Flanagan previously said that the scripts for the first season were in place and that Stephen King was “very happy” with them.
The scope of The Dark Tower is one obvious challenge. King’s saga spans eight primary novels, beginning with The Gunslinger, and incorporates elements and characters from across his larger universe. The story combines fantasy, horror, Western influences, and science fiction concepts while following Roland through multiple worlds. That makes it more complicated to bring to television than a straightforward adaptation of a single King novel.
There are also the rights issues Flanagan mentioned. Characters and concepts connected to The Dark Tower appear throughout King’s work, and those properties can involve different rights holders. Then you have to take into account the fact that there are also nods to Marvel Comics and the world of Harry Potter…
Amazon has already attempted a Dark Tower television series. A pilot based on a version developed by Glen Mazzara was filmed years ago, but wasn’t picked up.
While The Dark Tower continues its slow development, Flanagan has something more immediate to report about another Stephen King project: he’s writing The Mist right now.
Speaking with Collider at the Toronto International Film Festival, Flanagan was asked about his upcoming adaptation of King’s 1980 novella.
“I’m writing it right now. I was working on it on the airplane here.”
He also said that he expects to turn in the screenplay around Halloween.
There is still no announced production date or release date, but Flanagan is actively working on the script. And anyone expecting a straightforward remake of Frank Darabont’s 2007 movie shouldn’t.
Flanagan has already made it clear that his version of The Mist won’t simply recreate Darabont’s film. He previously addressed that concern on social media, explaining why he felt there was a reason to adapt the story again.
“The Mist is going to be great. If there wasn’t an excellent answer to why, I wouldn’t do it. I love Darabont’s film, and there’s zero point in remaking it. Which is why I’m going in a different direction. This isn’t a retread. The differences start page 1.”
Flanagan has made a similar argument about several of his previous adaptations. His The Haunting of Hill House series, for example, took Shirley Jackson’s novel in a different direction, while Doctor Sleep found a way to connect Stephen King’s novel with Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of The Shining.
He even pointed out that he’s received the same “but why?” reaction when taking on other properties.
“And FWIW, I got the same ‘but why’ comments for Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor, House of Usher, Carrie, The Exorcist, even Ouija: Origin of Evil. Also got it for Life of Chuck. I’ve been lucky so far in my career to only take on projects I’m really excited about.”
Stephen King’s original The Mist follows a group of people trapped inside a grocery store after a mysterious mist covers a Maine town and brings terrifying creatures with it. The situation outside is horrifying, but the story also becomes an examination of what happens when fear and paranoia take over the people trapped inside.
Darabont’s 2007 movie expanded on King’s story and delivered an ending that was radically different from the novella. Flanagan won’t return to that same version of the story, but exactly what his “different direction” will involve remains unknown.
The project will be Flanagan’s latest collaboration with King following Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and The Life of Chuck, while his Carrie series marks his first television adaptation of a King novel.
As mentioned, Flanagan’s eight-episode Carrie series premieres on Prime Video on October 7, with Summer H. Howell playing Carrie White and Samantha Sloyan playing Margaret White. The series takes King’s 1974 novel into the modern era, incorporating social media and expanding the story beyond the events of the original book. Flanagan also directed multiple episodes.
And Carrie may potentially have a connection to The Dark Tower. In his Entertainment Weekly interview, Flanagan acknowledged that he’s thought about whether characters from Carrie could eventually have a role to play in the larger Dark Tower universe.
“I may have asked this very question several times along the way. It’s certainly not impossible. There are characters in the Tower canon who would serve a very specific purpose in that story, who audiences wouldn’t necessarily recognize because they only exist in certain books.”
He specifically mentioned characters and connections involving Insomnia, Doctor Sleep, and The Shining.
“Carrie White could achieve the same narrative purpose pretty cleanly. You could say the same, though, of Abra Stone [from Doctor Sleep], you could say the same about Danny Torrance [from The Shining]. How the various Stephen King worlds can connect is always on my mind.”
That doesn’t mean Carrie is being positioned as a direct setup for The Dark Tower. For now, it’s just something Flanagan has considered while working within King’s interconnected mythology.
Neither project currently has a release date. For now, Flanagan and King fans have Carrie to look forward to.
After that, the filmmaker has several major projects competing for his attention, including The Mist, The Dark Tower, a sequel to The Exorcist, and his Warhammer 40,000 series with Henry Cavill.
It may be a while before Roland Deschain reaches the Dark Tower or Flanagan’s version of The Mist emerges from the fog, but both Stephen King projects are still moving. Are you looking forward to them? Let us know by leaving a comment below.