Many story developments from a new Stephen King TV series make it hard not to believe that it serves as the perfect teaser for Mike Flanagan‘s upcoming The Dark Tower adaptation. While little seems to be known about the Mike Flanagan series, the latest Stephen King TV adaptation seems to give a glimpse of what it could look like.

2025, so far, has been an incredible year for Stephen King movies and TV shows. As the year will progress, more new adaptations of the author’s work will hit the big and small screens. An ongoing series based on the King of Horror’s novel has also initially shown some promise.

While it does not rank among the best takes on Stephen King’s books in terms of critical scores, it seems significantly better than many recent TV shows adapted from the author’s stories. Interestingly, several story details from the new show also make it the perfect “unofficial” teaser for Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower adaptation.

The Institute’s Premise Is Very Similar To A Significant Story In Stephen King’s The Dark Tower Novels

One Story Beat From The Dark Tower Is Reminiscent Of What Happens In The Institute

Many followers of Stephen King’s works who have read his Dark Tower books would be familiar with the Breakers storyline. In the original novels, the Breakers are introduced as individuals with telepathic abilities, who are gathered together by Trans Corporation.

Although the books avoid revealing too much about Trans Corporation, they suggest the organization seeks individuals with psychic potential and then makes them use their ability for high-paying jobs. The Breakers in The Dark Tower books are also assigned the task of destroying the beams of the titular tower.

While they perform the task, the leading figures from the facility they were held in also feed them drugs that help them enhance their supernatural powers. All these story developments from The Dark Tower seem oddly reminiscent of what happens in Stephen King’s The Institute and its TV adaptation.

In both, children with telepathic and telekinetic abilities are abducted from their homes and held in a facility called The Institute. At the facility, the kids are experimented on and injected with drugs that help them enhance their powers. The children are also told they are serving the greater good by complying with the facility’s authorities.

Unsurprisingly, many readers could not help but theorize that The Institute was connected to The Dark Tower books in some capacity after reading the novels for the first time. The Institute has no explicit connections with The Dark Tower, but it still draws an exciting picture of what Mike Flanagan’s upcoming Dark Tower adaptation could look like.

The Stephen King Universe Has Several Types Of Psychic Kid Characters

It Is One Of The Most Common Tropes In The King Of Horror’s Works

Stephen King’s literary universe brims with iconic kids with supernatural abilities. For instance, just like the kids in The Institute are injected with a mysterious drug by the central facilities authorities, Charlie’s parents in Firestarter are injected with a drug called Lot Six in a government-sanctioned experiment by an organization called The Shop.

In both narratives, the experiments help young children either acquire supernatural powers or enhance their existing abilities. Similarly, Carrie White in Stephen King’s highly-adapted book Carrie also possesses both telekinetic and telepathic abilities like the young characters in The Institute.

There is also the “shining” ability possessed by young characters from The Shining and Doctor Sleep, which seems synonymous with telepathy in more ways than one. Even Joe (Leo) from The Stand and Children of Haven from Tommyknockers seemingly have similar supernatural powers, showing how widespread the psychic kid character trope is in King’s works.

Interestingly, Mike Flanagan is working on TV adaptations of both Carrie and The Dark Tower. With his takes on both Stephen King novels, he will continue bringing children with supernatural abilities to the small screen after The Institute. The shows may not be narratively connected to The Institute, but the subtle parallels make all three shows more fascinating.

It Would Still Take Years For Mike Flanagan’s Dark Tower Show To Reach Its Breakers Story

The Breakers Story Does Not Show Up Until The Seventh Dark Tower Book

Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series consists of a total of eight novels. The Breakers’ storyline is not introduced in the books until the seventh installment. Owing to this, it seems unlikely that Mike Flanagan’s upcoming adaptation of the novel series will feature the telepathic characters in the beginning.

Given how Mike Flanagan often creates loose adaptations of source materials instead of loyally following their stories, his take on Dark Tower might introduce the Breakers in an early arc. However, it still seems likely that viewers will have to wait for a while before they are introduced to the television version of the telepaths featured in the original Stephen King story.

Mike Flanagan‘s consistent success in the horror genre spells a promising future for the upcoming The Dark Tower adaptation. However, it is still a little too soon to draw any conclusions about how it will be. Regardless of how the Stephen King adaptation turns out, its subtle story parallels with The Institute make it even more exciting.