Mike Flanagan has a blunt answer to why his Warhammer 40,000 series is harder than The Dark Tower: there’s simply too much of it. Speaking on The Process Unlocked, the showrunner told host Jenelle Riley’s podcast he feels he’s “climbing my adaptation Everest” on the Amazon project, and called it a “brutally difficult adaptation” that has nonetheless been fun.
His reasoning is about entry points. Flanagan says Stephen King built The Dark Tower so that it opens with two people in an empty desert and adds the wider universe “one brick at a time”, which is why his plan is to adapt the books in order. He reckons that gives him a 70% head start, with only small changes needed for the format. The hard part, he says, is figuring out how to get in. Warhammer 40,000 offers no such runway, because Flanagan puts its tally at 700 novels, compared with eight for King’s saga, with countless characters spread over thousands of years.
Where the Warhammer series stands
The project has moved quickly this year. Deadline reported in July that Flanagan was in talks to executive produce and also to showrun, write and direct. Amazon MGM Studios acquired global rights to the franchise from Games Workshop in December 2024, with Henry Cavill attached to executive produce and star. 3DVF reports that Games Workshop’s annual report says Flanagan has finished initial story outlines and is moving into scripting.
Cavill has since addressed the casting question himself. GoSuGamers reports that in an Instagram post he confirmed he’ll take the lead role, while keeping his character secret for now. No release date or premiere window has been announced.
IGN’s Wesley Yin-Poole speculates that the show could centre on Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn novels, which follow an inquisitor and mostly ordinary humans rather than Space Marines. That’s a guess rather than an announcement, but it shows how fans are reading Flanagan’s comments about narrowing the way in.
The Dark Tower is further off
The Dark Tower is the slower burner. IGN says Flanagan admitted over the summer that he’s struggling to get a green light, and Screen Rant notes the series still hasn’t been officially greenlit. That makes Warhammer the more immediate test of whether he can wrestle a sprawling, decades-old universe into a series that newcomers can follow.
Flanagan’s own Amazon run began with Carrie, which we covered when the trailer revealed a bold new take. Warhammer is the second series under his multi-year deal, and by his own account it’s the toughest of the lot.
Will Henry Cavill star in the Warhammer 40,000 series?
Yes. In an Instagram post relayed by GoSuGamers, Cavill said he’ll take the lead role. He hasn’t revealed which character.
Is The Dark Tower TV series happening?
It’s in development, but it isn’t officially greenlit. Flanagan says his approach is to adapt King’s books in order, starting with the first novel, and he told The Process Unlocked he feels he’s “figured out” how to do it.
When is the Warhammer 40,000 series coming out?
There’s no release date. As reported by 3DVF, Games Workshop’s annual report says Flanagan has completed initial story outlines and is moving into scripts.
