About a year and a half ago, Stephen King fans got some pretty exciting news when it was revealed that none other than Mike Flanagn was going to adapt The Dark Tower into a series (with the possibility of two accompanying films as well). Last we heard was nearly a year ago with the director behind Gerlad’s Game and Doctor Sleep said that the project was still very much alive. Fortunately, even in light of Flanagan’s ever-busy schedule, nothing has gotten in the way of this show. Not even The Exorcist.
Speaking of the filmmaker’s insanely busy schedule, it was confirmed earlier this year that Flanagan will be directing a new take on The Exorcist, which is due to hit theaters in 2026. That appears to be where the bulk of his attention will be focused after his latest King adaptation The Life of Chuck comes out. On a recent episode of the Talking Scared podcast, Flanagan was asked directly if his new Exorcist movie for Universal and Blumhouse will get in the way of The Dark Tower. Fortunately, that’s not the case. Per Flanagan…
“Oh, it’s not in the way. They coexist very well. I think the trick with The Dark Tower is just it’s still just takes an enormous amount of time to get going. But we’re further along than the last time we spoke. It seems to be moving on its own momentum. There’s so much logistical, boring, legal stuff that we have to kind of machete our way through to get that thing moving. But yeah, it has not at all stalled and none of the other work that’s kind of emerged has in any way taken away from it.”
This is all good news, for the most part. The only real downside is that Exorcist arrives in March 2026, assuming it stays on schedule. That means Flanagan couldn’t realistically dive head-first into Dark Tower until the movie hits theaters, or at the very least after post-production is completed. So we are conservatively looking at late 2025 before production could truly ramp up on the show.
Still, Flanagan has proved he’s perhaps the best there is at adapting King’s work for the screen, so patience is warranted here. For those who may not be familiar, The Dark Tower is a series of seven novels and several supporting works that kicked off back in 1982 with The Gunslinger. It is unquestionably King’s most ambitious work. Very basically, the story of the books is as follows:
“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.”
The Dark Tower series does not currently have any sort of release window but stay tuned as we’ll be sure to keep you updated as more information comes our way. For more, be sure to check out our deep dive into the history of The Dark Tower books.
