Stephen King Confirms Writing for Mike Flanagan's Dark Tower: 'It's Happening' - IGN Fan Fest 2025

Mike Flanagan, renowned for his faithful adaptations of Stephen King's works such as Doctor Sleep and Gerald's Game, has promised that his upcoming take on The Dark Tower will stay true to the original novels. This commitment to authenticity is further solidified with the news that Stephen King himself is contributing new material to the project. In an exclusive roundtable interview with IGN, King confirmed his involvement, stating, "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."

The Essentials: Stephen King's Dark Tower Multiverse

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The Dark Tower is one of King’s most celebrated and personal works, with the first novel, The Gunslinger, beginning in 1970. King's involvement in Flanagan’s adaptation is significant, especially given his past contributions to projects like the Paramount+ limited series The Stand, where he wrote an epilogue to better conclude the storyline of Frannie Goldsmith. Given the expansive nature of The Dark Tower, which intertwines with nearly all of King's fiction, there are countless opportunities for King to enrich the narrative.

With King's new material, Flanagan's commitment to staying true to the novels is even more promising. In a 2022 interview with IGN, Flanagan emphasized his approach, stating, "it would look like the books" and that "the way not to do The Dark Tower is to try to turn it into something else, to try to make it Star Wars or make it Lord of the Rings." He further elaborated, "It is what it is, what it is is perfect. It's just as exciting as all of those things and just as immersive. It's a story about a tiny group of people, all the odds in the whole world are against them, and they come together. As long as it's that, it'll be fine and there won't be a dry eye in the house."

This assurance is especially reassuring following the 2017 film adaptation of The Dark Tower, which received criticism for its deviation from the source material. While the release date and format of Flanagan's adaptation remain uncertain, fans can look forward to other King projects in the meantime. Flanagan's adaptation of King's short story The Life of Chuck is set to premiere in theaters in May, and he is also developing a Carrie series for Amazon, based on King's 1974 novel.