Stephen King Joins 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 assured fans that his upcoming project, *The Dark Tower*, will stay true to the expansive narrative of Stephen King's beloved fantasy saga. This promise is further solidified by an exclusive revelation from IGN that Flanagan has enlisted none other than Stephen King himself as a key collaborator in his adaptation journey.

In a roundtable interview promoting his latest project, *The Monkey*, IGN inquired whether King would be open to adding new content to Flanagan's *The Dark Tower* adaptation, similar to his contributions to the 2020 Paramount+ series, *The Stand*. King responded cryptically, "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."

If King's involvement is anything to go by, fans can expect an authentic and enriched experience. King's personal connection to *The Dark Tower* is profound, having begun the first novel, *The Gunslinger*, in 1970. His previous contributions, such as the epilogue for *The Stand*, hint at the potential for deeper storytelling in this vast universe that spans nearly all of his fiction.

The Essentials: Stephen King's Dark Tower Multiverse

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Given Flanagan's commitment to staying faithful to King's original text, as he stated in a 2022 interview with IGN, "it would look like the books" and "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," King's new material should seamlessly integrate into the adaptation. Flanagan further emphasized the emotional core of the story, describing it as, "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 approach is a reassuring contrast to the 2017 *Dark Tower* film, which disappointed many by rearranging the narrative elements from King's seven novels. While the exact release date and format of Flanagan's *The Dark Tower* adaptation remain under wraps, his ongoing projects keep fans engaged. Flanagan is set to release an adaptation of King's short story *The Life of Chuck* in May and is also developing a Carrie series for Amazon, based on King's 1974 novel.