Mike Flanagan Is Proving He’s The Perfect Person To Adapt Stephen King’s Dark Tower Books

Filmmaker Mike Flanagan proves through his interviews that he’s the perfect person to adapt Stephen King’s The Dark Tower books into a TV series. Author Stephen King is considered one of the best modern horror writers, writing over 70 books and 200 short stories. The author has more than 100 awards, showing the prolific nature of his writing. The best Stephen King books have been adapted for TV and movie, many more than once. One of King’s best-known works, The Dark Tower series, is getting its second adaptation soon under the tutelage of renowned filmmaker Mike Flanagan.

Mike Flanagan’s The Dark Tower TV adaptation was confirmed in 2022, but the filmmaker and author were collaborating on the project long before the announcement, since they were developing the series when King’s novel The Life Of Chuck came out on April 28, 2020. After the failed 2017 adaptation of The Dark Tower, there’s anxiety about the upcoming project. The series needs to go exactly right in order to win over fans of the books. Luckily, Mike Flanagan repeatedly shows that he’s the right person for the job when he speaks about the Dark Tower TV adaptation in interviews.

Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower Comments Prove He’s A Big Fan Of The Books

When Mike Flanagan shared his vision for the Dark Tower show at the end of 2022, he revealed how long he’d been thinking about bringing this story to life. He said he’s thought about this adaptation for over half of his life, indicating that he appreciated Stephen King’s Dark Tower books years before he put out his first feature-length film and a decade and a half before his first television series. Luckily, his youthful pipe dream is coming to fruition with the upcoming Dark Tower series. Check out what Flanagan had to say about the series below:

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.

Recent comments from the filmmaker have reiterated his deep love for the source material. While he is excited about the entire adaptation, Mike Flanagan can’t wait to recreate one Dark Tower scene from the books. In the eponymous last book in the series, a scene shows a character getting buried in a forest. During this scene, another character gives a powerful eulogy that made Flanagan cry when he first read the book.

Mike Flanagan emoted in an interview, “That one speech just kills me, and I can’t wait for that.” The passion with which he speaks about the books shows that he isn’t just in the project for the attention or credit. The fact that he has specific scenes that call out to him on a deeper level shows that he didn’t just read the Dark Tower series for the sake of adapting it. Flanagan is truly a fan of Stephen King’s book series and cares about getting the TV series right.

Mike Flanagan’s Respect For Stephen King’s Work Makes Him Perfect For The Adaptation

While many amazing horror directors could have taken on Stephen King’s magnum opus, Mike Flanagan’s deep love for the books makes him the right choice for the TV series. Professionals in the entertainment industry frequently have a different mentality when looking at a piece of media as a possible project versus a source of enjoyment. Because he was a fan of the Dark Tower books before he became a professional filmmaker, Flanagan has the unique ability to recognize what makes the Stephen King books so beloved.

Plus, Flanagan is a fan of more than just the one King book series. He asked Stephen King more than once for the rights to The Life of Chuck because he was certain it would be an incredible adaptation, almost causing Stephen King to deny Mike Flanagan the rights. However, the filmmaker prevailed and is now in charge of Stephen King’s The Life of Chuck movie. Because he has engaged with multiple of King’s stories as a fan, Flanagan can capture the author’s tone, pacing, and narration better than another director might.

On top of these factors, Mike Flanagan’s movies and TV shows have gone over extremely well. He has the technical background to bring incredible scenes from the books to the screen. Combined with his being a part of the Stephen King fandom, this offers hope that the adaptation of The Dark Tower will look just as visually stunning as what fans might imagine in their heads.

The Dark Tower TV Show Promises To Be More Faithful Than The 2017 Movie

Based on everything Mike Flanagan has shared about the upcoming Dark Tower TV show, the series will be much more faithful to the source material than the failed Dark Tower movie. Even Stephen King criticized the adaptation for deviating from the violence and graphic nature of the books. As a fan, Mike Flanagan will likely put extra emotional labor and care into making sure the adaptation remains faithful to Stephen King’s novels, rather than taking excessive creative liberties with the series.

Since the series is expected to come out on a streaming platform, Flanagan also won’t be limited by TV networks. Platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video notoriously allow more cursing, violence, and gore than traditional TV. This means Flanagan can incorporate the darker parts of the book in the Dark Tower TV show that the 2017 movie removed to maintain its PG-13 rating.

On top of this, the regular Mike Flanagan actors who could appear in The Dark Tower are skilled enough to capture the characters from the books faithfully. Carla Guigino has already teased that she might appear in the series, and she would be perfect as Rhea of the Cöos. These three factors all point towards Mike Flanagan’s The Dark Tower TV show remaining faithful to the Stephen King novels.