Summary
- Mike Flanagan is set to adapt The Dark Tower series, aiming for at least five seasons to cover King's epic story for TV.
- The Wind Through the Keyhole, Flanagan's favorite novel from the series, can't be adapted until at least season 5, due to the series timeline.
- King's lengthy novels pose a challenge, and Flanagan's plan for adaptation will require at least five to seven seasons to fully tell the story.
Horror master Mike Flanagan is set to take on Stephen King's epic King himself gave a poor review.
With The Dark Tower series finally confirmed, rumors are beginning to swirl about how the plot will be adapted, and who will be playing the beloved main characters from the fantasy epic. Flanagan has the capacity to fully flesh out the elaborate web of characters and plots with a long-form television series, which is necessary given how dense and long the series is. The consensus seems to be that each book will need at least one season, and if that's the case Flanagan's adaptation will need to be renewed several times to get to his favorite book from the series.
Dark Tower: Mike Flanagan Sparks Casting Speculation For Lead Role From Frequent Collaborator
Mike Flanagan sparks casting speculation for his adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, hinting at a frequent collaborator in the lead role.
Mike Flanagan's Favorite Dark Tower Book Is The Wind Through The Keyhole
A story about one of Roland Deschain's past adventures
In a 2019 interview with Suntup Press, Flanagan noted that his favorite book from The Dark Tower series is The Wind Through the Keyhole. The 2012 novel was added eight years after the series was thought to have ended with The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower. The story-within a story-within a story begins with Roland and his ka-tet sheltering from a storm (a "starkblast"), and Roland ing the time by telling them a story from his youth.
The Dark Tower Series |
Release Year |
|---|---|
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger |
1982 |
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three |
1987 |
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands |
1991 |
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass |
1997 |
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla |
2003 |
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah |
2004 |
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower |
2004 |
"The Little Sisters of Eluria" |
1998 |
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole |
2012 |
In the story, Roland and his friend Jamie are sent to investigate a "skin-man", a shapeshifter who has been terrifying a nearby town. Over the course of their adventure, Roland tells a fairy tale from his childhood, titled "The Wind Through the Keyhole." It's a story of a boy on a quest for vengeance against his father's murderer (and him and his mother's drunken tormenter), which weaves in many typical fantasy elements including a dragon, a "tyger", a mystical swamp and a magician.
The Wind Through The Keyhole Can't Be Adapted Until The Dark Tower Season 5
It's set between books 4 and 5
As entertaining as Flanagan's favorite The Dark Tower story is, it simply isn't something that Flanagan can be sure to address right away. While The Wind Through the Keyhole was not released until 2012, the story of Roland and his ka-tet sheltering from the starkblast actually takes place between book 4, Wizard and Glass, and book 5, Wolves of the Calla. Flanagan has mentioned doing at least five seasons and perhaps a couple of movies to follow, so he at least has the appetite to push the series long enough to cover it.
In 2009, Stephen King posted a poll on his website asking fans which novel he should write next, and while The Wind Through the Keyhole lost out to his The Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep, he wound up publishing The Wind Through the Keyhole first anyway.
Given its place in the timeline of Roland's story, The Wind Through the Keyhole likely can't be adapted into the TV show until at least season 5. The sheer length and density of each of King's fantasy novels indicates that each deserves at least one season of TV to fully tell the story. However, as The Wind Through the Keyhole is mostly about a story Roland tells of his past, there is a path to moving it up in the timeline. For example, it can be a story that Roland tells Jake in their travels during The Gunslinger (season 1).
Mike Flanagan's Dark Tower TV Show Is Exciting, But King's Books Pose A Huge Challenge
Stephen King's magnum opus is so unbelievably long that it presents an incredible challenge for anyone hoping to adapt it. The eight novels combined run 4,250 typically-sized printed novel pages, and shockingly there aren't a ton of major plot points that can simply be dismissed. Many, if not all, of the character arcs and story lines serve the overall narrative of Roland Deschain's journey to The Dark Tower. The primary challenge for Mike Flanagan is how long to make the series, and how much of the novels to adapt.
Mike Flanagan has proven himself one of TV's most capable creators, as he has produced a number of critically-acclaimed series including The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher. He clearly has a plan for how to go about adapting the massive series, and considering he was given the reins to adapt it, there is enough faith from others that Flanagan's take will work. However, to get all the way to his favorite novel, Mike Flanagan's The Dark Tower will likely need to extend at least five seasons.
Source: Suntup Press
