Imagine the agony of your heroes' lives dangling by a thread, with no resolution in sight – that's the brutal reality Stephen King's devoted fans faced with one of the most despised cliffhangers in his legendary Dark Tower series. But here's where it gets controversial: what if the author wasn't really in control?
Ilze Kitshoff /Sony Pictures Releasing
A big reason why Stephen King enthusiasts are buzzing with anticipation for the upcoming TV adaptation of The Dark Tower (check out the latest updates at https://www.slashfilm.com/1710436/mike-flanagan-the-dark-tower-stephen-king-adaptation-update/) is that this book series holds a special, deeply personal significance for the horror icon. In the introductions and epilogues of the novels, King often portrayed the saga as something that flowed through him mysteriously, almost effortlessly, unlike his other works where he felt more deliberate effort was required.
King's mystical take on crafting The Dark Tower led to some eyebrow-raising narrative decisions, such as structuring the entire fourth book around an extensive 500-page detour into Roland's youth. From the basics of classic storytelling, this might seem like a rookie mistake – a massive interruption that disrupts the main plot's momentum. Yet, King consistently spoke of it as an unavoidable mandate from Ka, the term in Gilead's High Speech signifying destiny or fate. He seemed to imply that Ka dictated this lengthy flashback must unfold, and who was he to defy it?
And this is the part most people miss: Apparently, Ka also insisted on the third installment, The Waste Lands, wrapping up with what many consider the pinnacle of frustrating endings in King's bibliography. The story concludes with the protagonists ensnared inside a colossal, self-aware locomotive named Blaine, which threatens to crash unless they triumph over it in a riddle-solving contest. Does the group manage to outsmart this incredibly clever machine? The Waste Lands leaves you hanging, forcing readers to hold out until the opening of the subsequent volume, Wizard and Glass, to discover if – and precisely how – the heroes make it through alive.
Dating back to the 1990s, fans were furious. This marked King's first foray into abandoning readers with such an unresolved predicament, and to rub salt in the wound, he dragged his feet for a full six years before delivering the next book. For the first time, his philosophy of 'I'll tackle the sequel whenever Ka permits' lost its charm among his loyal base.
Stephen King recounted the barrage of irate correspondence he got from Dark Tower aficionados
Warner Bros.
Two years prior to King finally tying up that dangling thread, he embarked on The Green Mile, initially serialized in parts. In his preface, King acknowledged the backlash from The Waste Lands and vowed to release these segments swiftly and efficiently. He elaborated:
'Each week, we receive dozens of enraged missives urging the release of the next Dark Tower installment (hang in there, Roland's followers; another year or so, and your patience will pay off, I swear). One even included a Polaroid of a teddy bear shackled in chains, accompanied by a ransom note pieced together from newspaper headlines and magazine clippings: RELEASE THE NEXT DARK TOWER BOOK INSTANTLY OR THE BEAR DIES. I tacked it to my office wall as a reminder of my duty and the sheer joy of knowing people genuinely invest in the worlds I conjure.'
At that juncture, King defended the cliffhanger, framing it in the afterword of The Waste Lands as beyond his grasp. 'While you're under no obligation to trust me, I must stress that the ending of this third volume caught me off guard just as much as it might some readers,' he penned. 'Novels that compose themselves – as this one largely did – must also conclude on their own terms.'
In later reflections, he admitted remorse for that stance, particularly following the fifth book, Wolves of the Calla. In real life, King suffered a near-fatal collision with a van in 1999 (more on that here: https://www.slashfilm.com/1685058/stephen-king-wrote-maligned-sci-fi-novel-dreamcatcher-almost-killed/), an ordeal that motivated him to push forward with the fifth, sixth, and seventh Dark Tower books at an accelerated pace, regardless of his personal inspiration levels.
Will the Dark Tower TV series sidestep the novels' notorious cliffhanger?
Sony Pictures Releasing
Another source of King's remorse was his own shock at the prolonged timeline for completing the fourth book. The gap wasn't as excruciating as what Game of Thrones devotees have battled with the perpetually delayed The Winds of Winter (dive into the details at https://www.slashfilm.com/1646173/why-george-rr-martin-hasnt-finished-game-of-thrones-books/), but it represented a far longer hiatus than King had anticipated, a pattern he vowed never to repeat in the series.
King's deepest acknowledgment of guilt regarding the Waste Lands cliffhanger manifested within the books themselves; the final two volumes incorporate a self-referential plotline where the characters directly converse with King and plead for him to expedite the conclusion. They uncover that the Dark Tower narrative is channeled through King's penmanship by a transcendent entity, and they employ hypnosis to compel him back to the task. If that doesn't qualify as an unspoken apology to readers, it's hard to imagine what would.
The silver lining? Even if King has reservations about that cliffhanger now, the forthcoming TV show has a golden opportunity to bypass it altogether. Armed with the wisdom of retrospect, showrunner Mike Flanagan could potentially wrap up the Blaine the Train saga in a thrilling, single-episode season closer. Why endure six agonizing years for answers when you could deliver instant gratification in a single viewing?
But here's the juicy debate: Should authors like King surrender creative reins to 'fate' or mystical forces, or does that excuse lazy storytelling? Do you think the TV adaptation should follow the books' pacing, or is it smarter to tweak for modern audiences? Share your thoughts in the comments – agree, disagree, or offer your own take on the ethics of cliffhangers!
