For some reason, Dungeons & Dragons seems to be one of those IPs Hollywood just doesn’t know what to do with. But, since the famous fantasy tabletop role-playing game is at an all-time cultural high, I’m not surprised there’s a few dice rolling from different studios. Netflix just officially joined the game, and I was not expecting this.
A New Dungeons & Dragons Projects Is In The Works
If all goes well with this new project, a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series will be streaming for those with a Netflix subscription in the near-ish future. Per Deadline, the streamer is working on one called Ravenloft from Hasbro and executive producer Alfonso Cuarón. (You know the guy who made Children of Men and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).
Ravenloft takes after the D&D setting of the same name that’s steeped in gothic horror. It’s a realm shrouded in supernatural fog called “The Mists”. Ravenloft has a vampire realm, ancient mummy realm and mad science realm among other things. The series comes from John August, who long wrote screenplays for some of Tim Burton’s best films like Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie. The concept sounds pretty awesome, and like it could become a new fantasy obsession for fans of the genre.
What Does This Mean For The Other D&D Movie I Wanted?
The news comes about a month after CinemaBlend spoke to the writer/directors of the 2023 Dungeons & Dragons movie, Honor Among Thieves. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s film starring Chris Pine has been well-loved on streaming, but when it initially hit theaters it just didn’t make enough money. Here’s what Goldstein told me in July:
We have written the second… I wouldn't hold my breath necessarily because the economics of making a movie are tricky. We loved the new script and I think it would be super fun to do. I think it's something fans would respond to, but it's tough, you know?
Goldstein called the sequel to Honor Among Thieves a “huge movie”, and after the first one made just $205 million worldwide against a reported $150 million production budget, they’d have to make the movie a lot cheaper this time around. While I think it’s possible that Hasbro could produce multiple D&D projects from different studios at the same time, I have a feeling this means that the company could be moving on from Paramount’s potential fantasy franchise.
Outside of this Ravenloft series, The Last Of Us’s Craig Mazin is also currently working on an HBO series for Baldur’s Gate. That series takes place in the Forgotten Realms setting of D&D and is one of the most exciting upcoming video game adaptations. Ravenloft is not what I imagined the next D&D project to be, but I have to say, it sounds very promising.
