The Dark Tower had all the makings of a great movie back in 2017 and was supposed to be the beginning of a new franchise that would play out across the big and small screens. Unfortunately, it was an undeniable mess that not even stars Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey could save.
Serving as a sequel to the books rather than a direct adaptation (which was actually a pretty neat approach), the movie crashed and burned, causing Hollywood to lose interest in the Stephen King property.
Despite that, filmmaker Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) remains attached to a streaming series he's hoping to eventually make a reality.
Talking on the Script Apart podcast (via SFFGazette.com), Flanagan admitted the movie has hurt his chances of successfully bringing King's magnum opus back to our screens.
"[My Dark Tower adaptation] couldn't be more different [from the movie]," he explained. "That was the wrong approach to the material, kind've across the board, and it was such the wrong approach that I think it kind've salted the earth for anyone else who wanted to plant something under the Dark Tower banner for who knows how long."
"But that's what we're running into trying to get the show going, is the movie did an enormous amount of damage to the potential [of] getting another iteration up."
"And they were able to overcome it for an Amazon [Studios] series that took another, different approach again - that is very different than the one I am proposing - and that didn't get off the ground," Flanagan added. "So that has also directly impacted...and I'm at Amazon!"
"That's my studio now for television, and I can understand going to them and saying 'Hey, would you like to walk exactly down the same title that you spent all this money on, that you still feel bruised from.' I understand the issues."
Flanagan acquired the rights to King's epic sci-fi fantasy tale last December, so it's still very early days.
He has, however, previously revealed that the first episode's script is done and he anticipates his adaptation running for five seasons. Hopefully, that means we're getting a faithful take on the author's novels that tells this complex, compelling story the right way. We're just going to have to wait and see whether he's able to convince a streamer to take a chance on it.
The Dark Tower doesn't currently have a release date.