Stephen King is one of the most storied authors in living memory. His horror and science-fiction narratives are both legendary and legion. The Maine-based writer has won awards from the British Fantasy Society, Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, and many more. He has been nicknamed the “King of Horror” as this is his most frequently implemented genre. From the somewhat obscureCujoto the critically acclaimed horror storyIt, Stephen King has been writing spine-tingling tales since the 1970s. Many have been made into movie adaptations, such asThe Shining,Carrie, andIt.
However, perhaps one series stands out among Stephen King’s vast array of written works. That would beThe Dark Towerseries, a nine-book saga. Stephen King’s website refers to the series as his Magnum Opus, or his crowning achievement.The Dark Towerseries is absolutely sprawling. Its nine books cover over one-million words and span several genres from western to science fiction to horror.
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The series also spans most of Stephen King’s career, from 1982 through 2012. Although many of Stephen King’s works havebeen adapted to television or the silver screen,The Dark Towermight simply be impossible to properly adapt. There are five chief reasons for this.
The Series is Too Long
It is fairly rare for a long and winding series to be successfully adapted to television or films. There are of course exceptions, such as theHarry Potterbooks that churned out several successful films.Game of Throneswas also successfully adapted to a smash-hit HBO series.
However,The Dark Towerwould still have a hill to climb in order to become a successful multimedia project. At over one-million words, the series is simply massive. Adapting individual arcs to seasons or films would be a tall task. On top of that, adapting the entire series to a cohesive arc spanning several seasons or films overall would be a hefty challenge.
Each Book fromThe Dark TowerSeries Varies Wildly in Length
Mostadapted book-to-movie or book-to-tv-showprojects try to stay consistent with runtimes or number of episodes per season, generally speaking. This would be one of the greatest challenges for a potentialThe Dark Towerseries adaptation.
The shortest book fromThe Dark Towerseries is 1998’sThe Little Sisters of Eluria. It is only 66 pages long at 23,000 words and change. The longest book fromThe Dark Towerseries is 2004’s conclusion to the series,The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower. It is nearly 850 pages long and nearly 300,000 words long. To put that into context, ifThe Little Sisters of Eluriawere three television episodes, thenThe Dark Tower VII: The Dark Towerwould be over 38 episodes long.
This variation from book to book makesThe Dark Towerseries a bit unwieldy to adapt. The only way to avoid this issue would be to simply omit a couple of the shorter books, or condense them into some of the larger books for the sake of multimedia adaptation.
Too Much Genre-Blending
It is still fair to compareThe Dark Towerseries toHarry PotterandGame of Thronesfor a couple of reasons. All of these series are very long and all of these series fall somewhere within the fantasy genre.
However,The Dark Towerseries takes a turn here. It is more than just a fantasy series. It’s also a western, a horror story, and a science fiction tale. While Stephen King might be a master storyteller, he might not have an equal on the television show or silver screen front who could weave all of these genres together successfully while keeping a cohesive narrative. This could deeply affect the project’s tone and narrative arc.
Highest of Expectations
The wild success ofGame of Thronesas a mature, wild fantasy ride only hurts other dark fantasy tales likeThe Dark Towerseries when it comes to setting a high bar for a book-to-multimedia adaptation. Stephen King has a legion of die-hard, loyal fans who would lend a critical eye to any television show or movie adaptation ofThe Dark Tower.
Furthermore, newer television adaptations likeThe Wheel of Timeonly put more pressure on book adaptations, particularly in the oversaturated fantasy genre.
2017 Film Left a Sour Taste in the Public’s Mouth
In 2017, Sony Pictures partially adaptedThe Dark Towerfor a film by the same title. The film served as a sequel, a furthering of the book series’ narrative.The Dark Towerfilm was a critical and box office bomb. It scored a whopping 15% critics rating onRotten Tomatoesand only earned 113 million dollars at the box office. That is not even earning back double its budget. The massive failure of this movie does not fare well for the prospects of aDark Towermultimedia project for the near future.
CompareThe Dark Towertoanother Stephen King project,It, after the latter’s movie adaptation was a bomb in the early 1990s.Itwould not resurface as a film until nearly 30 years later in 2017. Perhaps a future adaptation forThe Dark Towerwould follow a similar decades-long pattern.
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