Carla Gugino Has Had 'Conversation' About Joining Major Stephen King Adaptation From Mike Flanagan

It's no secret that throughout his expansive body of work, Mike Flanagan has used many of the same actors over and over again, and it seems that one of his frequent actors may be poised to star in his next project. During a recent interview on The Playlist's Bingeworthy podcast, Carla Gugino, who has appeared in the majority of Flanagan's recent Netflix titles, teased that she may be reuniting with the director for Flanagan's upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower.

"There has been a conversation about The Dark Tower, but I don't have any intel I could share other than that," Gugino admitted when asked if she would be contributing to the film. "I do hope that it all comes together. And I know that's something he's incredibly passionate about. I mean, I do think he is great, just as a Stephen King interpreter. And yet, he also has such a strong voice of his own that somehow is beautiful, you know?"

Flanagan first revealed he acquired the rights to King's Dark Tower, which for years he had described as his dream project, in a wide-ranging interview with Deadline in 2022. At the time, the outlet reported that Flanagan and his producing partner Trevor Macy were working on an adaptation of the books, which Flanagan envisioned as a five season TV series, followed by two stand-alone features.

The upcoming adaptation, which follows the 2017 Idris Elba-starring film adaptation, has faced delays, however. The project was among the numerous TV series and films impacted by last year's writers' and actors' strikes. Speaking to The Kingcast last August amid the strikes, Flanagan said that while they were "completely frozen" at the moment due to the strikes, they "had a wonderful spring with it and we're making enormous progress on it... We have great partners on it that I can't talk about, and we've got some really exciting actors circling on it that I can't talk about, and we have some potentially groundbreaking approaches to the filmmaking of it that I just can't really talk about."

At this time, details for the film, including cast, remain unclear. Should Gugino star in the adaptation, it would mark her sixth project with Flanagan. The actress first worked with the director in the 2017 film Gerald's Game, another adaptation of King's works. She went on to appear as Olivia Crain in The Haunting of Hill House and as The Storyteller/Older Jamie in The Haunting of Bly Manor. Although she didn't appear in the series, she voiced the Judge in Midnight Mass. She also starred in Flanagan's most recent and final Netflix title, The Fall of the House of Usher, starring as Verna.