Dice aren’t the only things rolling at Paramount +. Paramount and Hasbro have officially put to order a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series. Set to be exclusive to Paramount’s streaming service, the order calls for eight episodes, with the pilot being written by the talent behind the Netflix thriller, Red Notice.
The news comes from Deadline with further details. Lead studio eOne took the project out in November and has now given the green light on an eight-episode straight-to-series order to adapt Dungeons & Dragons. Writer, producer, and director Rawson Marshall Thurber has written the pilot and is set to direct the first episode. The series will be a co-production endeavor between Paramount Pictures and eOne.
Writing A Path
Rawson Marshall Thurber’s last film, Red Notice, features a trifecta of star power, including Gal Gadot, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, and Ryan Reynolds. Red Notice holds the record for the most-watched Netflix film of all time. The director has helmed box office hits such as action comedy Central Intelligence and action thriller like Skyscraper. Rawson is writing two sequels for Red Notice and pitched a feature adaptation of the classic 80s cartoon Voltron to Amazon.
The two studios founded an agreement for the series after working together on the upcoming Spring time action fantasy Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, debuting March 31st, 2023. Story details are scarce but the series has been a primary focus for eOne and Hasbro. This series is set to be the launching pad for a larger Dungeons & Dragons universe that may span “multiple scripted and unscripted shows.”
Fantasy is on fire
The IP is hot as the cultural landscape finds itself in a new renaissance for the Fantasy genre. This past Fall, Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series Rings of Power arrested the attention of many viewers. Additionally, Critical Role’s acclaimed adult animation The Legend of Vox Machina is set for another resounding season on Amazon on January 20th. HBO Max took another chance at Westeros and won gold with the Game of Thrones spin-off House of The Dragon. On its own, Dungeons & Dragons finds renewed resurgence with over 50 million players having played the game since it debuted 49 years ago.
There’s much that isn’t known about this live-action Dungeons & Dragons series. Additionally, there is no confirmation that the show will intersect with the upcoming movie. It is abundantly clear that the game has now taken center stage once again, especially in the video game world where many games have adopted D&D rulesets for their games. With strong talent and a more solid direction, this series will hopefully be a stronger series than the most recent attempt at Halo.
