Draft:The Dark Tower (TV series)

The Dark Tower is an upcoming American fantasy streaming television based on the book series of the same name. The series was created and executive produced by Mike Flanagan, for Amazon Studios on Prime Video.

Development
In April 2010, Universal Pictures was set to produce a trilogy of Dark Tower feature films, alternating with two seasons of a television series to bridge gaps between the films. The involved parties included Akiva Goldsman writing the script, Ron Howard directing, and also producing with Brian Grazer and Stephen King. The report was made official by NBC Universal five months later via a press release dated September 8, 2010. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly following the announcement, King stated that "I always thought it would take more than a single movie, but I didn't see this solution coming—i.e., several movies and TV series. It was Ron [Howard] and Akiva [Goldsman]'s idea. Once it was raised, I thought at once it was the solution."

By April 2011, Mark Verheiden was joining the television portion of the project as executive producer and Akiva Goldsman's co-writer. However, just a month later, a report in Variety revealed that Universal may seek another studio's help, as the project's budget appeared to be more than they were willing to handle. In October 2011, Howard confirmed the adaptation was still on track, noting that HBO would carry the television series.

In September 2016, a television series based on the 2017 film of the same name was scheduled to be released in 2018, with Glen Mazzara as showrunner. Idris Elba and Tom Taylor were set to reprise their roles as Roland Deschain and Jake Chambers respectively. The series was intended to provide the backstory of the film, being based on Stephen King's The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole and elements of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger, with another actor playing young Roland, and Dennis Haysbert attached to return as Steven Deschain. Mazzara said that the series would explore "how Walter became the Man in Black, and how their rivalry cost Roland everything and everyone he ever loved", though Matthew McConaughey did not initially sign on for the series.

While discussing the development of the series in the aftermath of the film's release, King expressed "we'll see what happens with that. It would be like a complete reboot, so we'll just have to see". In February 2018, Amazon bought the rights to the series adaptation, though it was not made clear at first if Elba, Taylor or McConaughey would be involved. In March 2019, it was confirmed that the series would serve as a reboot with Sam Strike and Jasper Pääkkönen being cast as Roland Deschain and The Man in Black respectively. In January 2020, Amazon decided not to move forward with the pilot, allowing production company MRC to shop the pilot scripts to other studios.

In December 2022, Mike Flanagan announced that he had acquired the rights to adapt the books for a streaming series on Amazon and had plans for a multi season release, alongside Trevor Macy's Intrepid Pictures. In June 2023, Flanagan said he was optimistic about Amazon approving the series after the 2023 writer's strike. By August 2023, development on the series was suspended due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.