As development continues on his adaptation, Mike Flanagan reveals that The Dark Tower series may not stream on Prime Video. Largely centered on a gunslinger named Roland in a mystical reality known as Mid-World, the Stephen King novels previously made their way to the screen with the Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey-led film of the same name, which was an infamous critical and commercial bomb. After a failed attempt at a reboot series, Flanagan landed the rights for a Dark Tower TV show at the same time at signing a deal with Amazon Studios.Available To Stream On HBO MaxIn the latest episode of the Script Apart podcast to discuss his acclaimed Netflix miniseries Midnight Mass, Mike Flanagan opened up about the in-development The Dark Tower series. The creator, excited about his take on the material, revealed that the series may not stream on Prime Video, in spite of his and creative partner Trevor Macy's recent overall deal set at the streamer. See what Flanagan explained below:
[My creative partner Trevor Macy and I] have The Dark Tower. We carved it out from our Netflix deal, knowing we were leaving, and we carved it out from our Amazon deal as well, knowing that they'd already tried to do [a Dark Tower adaptation] and might be reluctant to do it. So, The Dark Tower doesn't have a studio. We don't have a partner on it yet, so I'm developing it myself, which is really a blast. And that's my dream project, you know? I've wanted to do that for so long. If we can get it off the ground, if we can actually get it going, I'm not ruling out Amazon's involvement down the line. Our relationship with them is brand new, so we'll have to see. But, yeah, I work on The Dark Tower in one capacity or another every day.
Where The Dark Tower Series Could Air (If Not Amazon)
Though Flanagan notes it could still stream on Prime Video in the future, his reveal that Amazon isn't currently involved with The Dark Tower series does raise the question of where it could air. The most likeliest of candidates does still seem to be Prime Video, considering he and Macy have a lucrative overall deal there and Flanagan has penned a detailed five-season outline for his adaptation of King's magnum opus.
The other biggest candidate would seem to be that of Netflix, considering Flanagan and Macy's past relationship with the streamer on The Haunting anthology series, The Midnight Club and Midnight Mass. Interestingly, Flanagan has indicated that his and Netflix's visions were not aligning in the same way near the end of his tenure there, making it possible he doesn't elect to shop the series there. However, with Amazon indirectly teaming with Netflix for the hit Wednesday series, including season 2, there are plenty of connections for him to work with.
One unlikely, yet still possible, candidate for The Dark Tower's streaming home is that of HBO Max. While the shakeups at Warner Bros. Discovery has led to cost-cutting efforts on their streamer's part, Flanagan and King's prior relationships with the studio, namely on Doctor Sleep, could see him unite with HBO Max to stream the iconic novels. With development still in the early stages, all choices seem possible for where The Dark Tower could stream.
Source: Script Apart