This is a pivotal moment for Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy’s Intrepid Pictures, which the duo launched in 2004. After six years creating and producing for Netflix, including the last four under an overall deal, the duo behind The Haunting TV franchise and Midnight Mass are moving to Amazon Studios. Additionally, they are taking on their most ambitious project to date: a screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, which creator Flanagan envisions as a TV series to run for five seasons, followed by two stand-alone features.
In an interview with Deadline, Flanagan and Macy, known for their extensive film and TV work in the horror genre, break the news that they have acquired the rights to the mammoth book series, which draws from multiple genres including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror and Western. Flanagan reveals that he has written a pilot script and season outlines for The Dark Tower, which he has described for years as his dream project. He has even shared in interviews his vision for the opening shot, a black screen with the words “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed,” leading to a landscape with a silhouette in the distance.
Flanagan and Macy, who carved the rights to The Dark Tower out of their Netflix and Amazon Studios overall deals, are taking on the famous property having previously done two feature adaptations of King novels, 2019’s Doctor Sleep and 2017 Gerald’s Game (based on The Shining and Gerald’s Game, respectively), both directed and written/co-written by Flanagan.