Between how busy he is with the upcoming Exorcist movie, his Carrie series for Amazon, and DC's Clayface, you might think Mike Flanagan's The Dark Tower had fallen by the wayside. The good news is, it hasn't, and the even better news is that the one and only Stephen King is officially helping the write the series adaptation.
UPDATE: As of 01:11 Pacific Time on Monday, King has taken to Bluesky to deny his writing involvement with Flanagan's The Dark Tower.
Confirming the news exclusively earlier today, IGN reported from a roundtable interview for Oz Perkins' The Monkey (another King adaptation) at IGN Fan Fest 2025, where King confirmed he's helping to bring Flanagan's vision of the novel series to life:
All I can say is it's happening. I am writing stuff now and I think that's all I want to say because the next thing you know, I'll stir up a bunch of stuff I don't necessarily want to stir up yet. I'm in process right now, and to say too much feels like a jinx.
For the uninitiated, The Dark Tower is a series of eight novels and several supporting works started with 1982's The Gunslinger:
“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. Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum. It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it.”
Flanagan's series adaptation has been in the works since 2022 when the Doctor Sleep director acquired the rights through Intrepid Pictures. He previously said he envisioned the show to run for five seasons, followed by two stand-alone features. Whether or not King is onboard for the full journey remains to be seen.
Back in 2023, speaking with FANGORIA's The Kingcast, Flanagan provided the following Dark Tower status update:
“I feel really good about where we are. Oddly, where we are at the moment is completely frozen, because of the strike, but we had a wonderful spring with it and we're making enormous progress on it. And I have every reason to believe that on the other side of the strike, it's gonna be priority #1.
Stay tuned for more updates on The Dark Tower as we get them.
