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Mike Flanagan, the creator of Netflix's The Haunting of Hill House and director of Doctor Sleep, is adapting Stephen King's The Dark Tower for the small screen over at Amazon Studios.
According to Deadline, Flanagan and Trevor Macy are producing the project under their Intrepid Pictures banner, and envision the series as taking place over the course of five seasons, followed by two standalone features.
The announcement comes just days after the cancellation of The Midnight Club, Flanagan's second-to-last in his overall deal with Netflix. His adaptation The Fall of the House of Usher is still in production, which Flanagan calls a "kind of a grand curtain call for the Netflix type of work that we did." Flanagan and his producing partner Macy have since inked a deal with Prime Video for upcoming projects, and The Dark Tower is just the first.
"Predating our deal with Amazon, we acquired the rights to The Dark Tower, which if you know anything about me, you know it has been my Holy Grail of a project for most of my life," Flanagan said. The filmmaker says King granted him the rights after Flanagan sent over a comprehensive outline of his plans for a TV adaptation.
The Dark Tower was previously adapted for the big screen in 2017, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey, and by Nikolaj Arcel. Amazon planned to go forward with a TV show from a pilot written by Glen Mazzara, but the project was ultimately scrapped.
Flanagan added: "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."
For more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming in 2022 and beyond.
