Stephen King Calls Mike Flanagan’s ‘The Dark Tower’ Adaptation “Perfect,” Comments on ‘The Long Walk,’ ‘Talisman 3’

During a recent appearance on The Kingcast, Stephen King praised Mike Flanagan‘s take on his magnum opus, The Dark Tower.

“I’ve seen screenplays and pitches, and he starts where he should start,” the author says. “The beats are perfect. They’re just perfect.”

King lovingly refers to Flanagan — who previously adapted Gerald’s Game, Doctor Sleep, and the forthcoming The Life of Chuck — as “the King whisperer.” The filmmaker revealed in late 2022 that his Intrepid Pictures acquired the rights The Dark Tower.

Tangentially related to the Dark Tower saga, King is currently working on a third Talisman novel. He expressed his excitement to return to the parallel world he created with the late Peter Straub.

“I’ve been channeling [Straub] like a motherfucker while working on Talisman 3. I find myself using his verbs. People don’t necessarily walk into a room. They bustle into a room, because that’s a very Straub-ian word. I’m using as much of that as I can.”

He continues, “I’m taking a core idea that Peter had and trying to include The Dark Tower and The Talisman. It very much stands on the shoulders of The Talisman and Black House. Some of the characters from Black House are in it. Actually, some of the characters are in it from Talisman.”

King has no insight into the long-gestured adaptation of The Talisman, but he shared his thoughts on The Long Walk feature, which wrapped production in September.

“I’m interested to see what Francis Lawrence has done with The Long Walk. I read [JT] Mollner’s screenplay, and I thought it was terrific. I thought the way that I felt when I read the script for The Shawshank Redemption.

“I thought, ‘This is great, but they’ll never fucking make this!’ I’m curious to see whether or not they put Mollner’s screenplay on the screen, and if they did, I think it’ll be interesting.”

Be sure to listen to the full interview for more, including rare stories about Maximum Overdrive.

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