The Dark Tower Movie Is A Notable Flop, But There's One Thing About The Matthew McConaughey Movie I Hope Mike Flanagan's Series Keeps

The following contains SPOILERS for Stephen King’s The Dark Tower books.

There was a time, not even that long ago, when The Lord of the Rings was considered un-filmable. The story was simply seen as too big and too dense that to do it justice in cinematic form wasn’t believed possible. Peter Jackson showed us all that was untrue, and with that, a number of other epic stories became possible too; stories like Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.

Considered King’s magnum opus, The Dark Tower is a seven-book series that also touches on almost every other book King has ever written. To do it justice would require a commitment on par with what we saw in the Harry Potter movies. It was attempted once with disastrous results, and now they’re trying again.

Mike Flanagan, who has shown a deft hand at adapting Stephen King material already, is currently very early in what is clearly meant to be a long-term project adapting The Dark Tower as a TV series. In nearly every way, he is likely trying to avoid the mess that the 2017 Dark Tower movie starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey became. However, there is one thing about that movie that I hope the new series actually embraces.

Ron Howard Once Tried What Mike Flanagan Is Doing Now

Back in the early 2010s, Ron Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer attempted to adapt The Dark Tower. It was an incredibly ambitious project, and at one point, it was planned to be a combination of theatrical film and television series that would tell the whole story, but with each chapter belonging to the medium that suited it best.

At various points, it appeared the project was dead. Eventually, the ambition shrunk down, and all we got was 2017’s The Dark Tower, a single film that both tried to be standalone, while also opening the door to sequels if the first movie was a hit.

It was not a hit. The movie was a mess. Its attempts to be a story that worked on its own required so much lore that the film was overstuffed. Fans of The Dark Tower hated the way it changed the story. New fans were simply unable to get invested thanks to being buried under endless lore.

As a fan of The Dark Tower, I was as disappointed as anybody that the movie was a mess. It had a strong cast, but they weren’t given much to work with. But I was especially disappointed by the failure because a year before the movie came out Stephen King himself got me excited for the film with an image that changed everything.

How Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Ends Is Important To The Film

The Dark Tower follows Roland of Gilead, a Gunslinger, as he goes on search for the ritual tower. At the end of the story, he finds the building, but then the story drops an incredible twist: Roland has been here before.

As it turns out, Roland has made the journey to the Dark Tower many times, and each time he does, he is returned to the place where the first book begins. Roland’s single-minded determination to seek the Tower has made him unworthy of that which he has been after.

However, on this trip to the Tower, the one we read, something changed in Roland. It’s indicated that in previous cycles, the people Roland met along the way were only tools he used to get to the Tower, but this time, he found friends. Roland’s goal was the Tower, but he (mostly) was not willing to sacrifice others to get it. For this reason, as Roland begins his next walk across the desert, he is carrying the Horn of Eld, an item he had previously left behind and that he needs to blow from a top the Dark Tower.

The implication is that Roland is a step closer to his redemption. However many times Roland has arrived at the Tower, the story of King’s novels may be his penultimate trip, with only this last journey required to truly reach his goal.

The Failed Dark Tower Movie Was Meant To Be A Sequel To The Books

It was with this knowledge that a tweet from Stephen King back in May of 2016 really set me off. It included a picture of the Horn of Eld with the words “Last Time Around” across it. Along with a comment from King himself, it seemed clear, that the Dark Tower film wasn’t an adaptation of the books, it was a sequel.

By implication, it seemed the idea was that the movie version of The Dark Tower would tell the story of this next cycle of Roland, one where he carried the Horn of Eld, and would finally deliver it to the Tower. If there is anything from the otherwise mess of a movie that is worth salvaging, it’s this.

Making The New Dark Tower Series A Sequel Is An Opportunity

Making The Dark Tower a follow-up to the books rather than a straight adaptation offers a lot of potential and a lot of opportunity. First and foremost, while fans will certainly hope that Mike Flanagan’s series will be fairly faithful to the source material, no adaptation is perfect. The fact that the show isn’t supposed to be an exact adaptation can be worked into the story.

We can potentially see new things, meet new people and go to new places. If the events in Roland’s past happened slightly differently, if he isn’t quite the same man, then it stands to reason that what follows wouldn’t play out exactly the same. This gives both the books and the series value in themselves. Fans would have a reason to experience both completely as they tell one long story.

And of course, there’s also the satisfaction that comes with a story that reaches its end. Not everybody loved the way the final Dark Tower book ended with its lack of resolution, no matter how much sense it made. Those of us who love Roland want to see him succeed, and with this, it could be possible.

Stephen King has said he’s actually involved in working on Mike Flanagan’s adaptation. While exactly what that means is far from clear, with the two men working together, perhaps we really could get a version of The Dark Tower that doesn’t simply adapt the story, but completes it.