There is some news that comes over our desk that sends me into pure joy and immediate fits of dance. The news that Mike Flanagan is taking on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower is that kind of news. Plenty of dance fits were had, tust me. Flanagan is one of our favorite people in the world, added to that his work in King adaptations have been flawless. For example, his adaptation of Gerald’s Game was singular. Not bad considering everyone said that Gerald’s Game was unfilmable. Impossible to make it work as a movie like it did on the page. Flanagan is that good, y’all.
Speaking of impossible things to film, Flanagan taking on The Dark Tower is a perfect matchup and something that I’m certain will add a ton of heart to an already near-perfect series of books.
The synopsis for King’s The Dark Tower goes like this:
The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower.
“The Dark Tower” Stephen King
I’ll tell you, more than half of my life, I’ve closed my eyes and been able to watch a lot of this play out, I’ve dreamed about this. That first shot which comes right off at the first incredible sentence of the first book, The Gunslinger, I’ve had that image just rattling around in my head since I was an undergrad. It’s going to have to get out of there eventually, I really need to get it out of my head. The pilot script is one of my favorite things I’ve ever gotten to work on. 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.“ Flanagan said.
We wouldn’t pick anyone else to adapt The Dark Tower as a series. Flanagan is as good as it gets and knowing that he, like myself, has written and closed their eyes and pictured what The Gunslinger and The Dark Tower would look like on screen.
We will be sure to keep you updated on future Dark Tower/Flanagan developments.
