“Nothing would be a bigger honor than to work on that”: The Midnight Club Creator Mike Flanagan Sets His Eyes on Stephen King’s Dark Tower After Unsuccessful Attempt by Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey

Stephen King and MIke Flanaggan
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The king of horror Stephen King’s unsuccessful adaptation of The Dark Tower proved fatal for many. Mike Flanagan, the most brilliant horror director, said he wished to reboot the movie. The movie would indeed prove successful as Mike Flanagan has many horror titles to his name.

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After a failed attempt by Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey back in 2017, The Dark Tower became a massive failure earning little profit at the global box office.

Stephen King (left) and Mike Flanagan (right).
Stephen King (left) and Mike Flanagan (right).

Mike Flanagan To Revive Stephen King’s Magnum Opus?

Mike Flanagan is an honorary director with multiple horror titles to his name. Some of his best works include Haunting of the Hill House, Oculus, and, Doctor Sleep. Sharing his penchant for horror is the king of horror Stephen King himself.

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The author of It wrote a series based on a poem titled “The Dark Tower”. It was during the year 2017 that Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba starred in a movie adaptation of the book which failed disastrously. During an interview with IGN, horror enthusiast Mike Flanagan revealed his dream project to the audience. Considering the status of the director, King just might give the go-ahead for The Dark Tower novel series to a movie/series adaptation.

A scene from The Dark Tower (2017).
A scene from The Dark Tower (2017).

Also read: Netflix: Mike Flanagan’s The Fall Of The House Of Usher Wraps Filming

“It’s my dream project. And I keep coming back to it because…it has its own gravity. I can’t get too far away from it for too long. Nothing would be a bigger honor or make me happier in my career than to be able to work on that. What it would look like? It would look like the book, you know?”

Mike Flanagan also stated how he imagined the adaptation would look as he imagined a Lawrence of Arabia-esque desert scene with the wind swaying.

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“It would be a black screen and the words ‘The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.’ Would come up on silence, and you’d hear the wind, and we’d gradually fade up to this Lawrence of Arabia-esque landscape with a silhouette in the distance, just making his way across the hardpan. And we would build it out from there, in order, to the end.”

After the disastrous failure of The Dark Tower film, Stephen King has become careful of his choices of adaptations allowed. Mike Flanagan directed the sequel to The Shining (1980) titled Doctor Sleep back in 2019 which received much praise and love from the fans.

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The Dark Tower To Be Made A Series By Mike Flanagan?

Mike Flanagan on the sets.
Mike Flanagan on the sets.

Related: Why Stephen King Doesn’t Regret Including His Controversial Underage Orgy in IT

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The Dark Tower is essentially the center of Stephen King’s universe of horror. Each and every work penned down by the author combines at The Dark Tower and thus, it is essentially a big project to take on. When asked about Mike Flanagan’s plan to make it a series or a movie, here’s what the Oculus director replied.

“Is it a series? Is it a franchise of feature films? I don’t know! It’s all of those things. It’s none of them. It would be my Everest to do that, but nothing would make me happier, and God I hope there’s a chance. I really do.”

Although there have been no official confirmations from Stephen King or any studio to take up the project, Flanagan’s enthusiasm seems pretty high. Considering the masterpieces that he has managed to make, he could ace The Dark Tower too.

Mike Flanagan’s The Haunting of Hill House is available to stream on Netflix while The Dark Tower (2017) is available to stream on fuboTV.

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Source: Twitter

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Written by Visarg Acharya

Articles Published: 2025

Visarg Acharya, Associate Content Writer, has been heavily involved in movies, series, and history. Having an experience of 2 years in the field of content writing, Visarg is a seasoned writer. Having a degree in Physics, Visarg Acharya has published a dissertation alongside a plethora of poems and short stories along the way.