Not only is Hasbro currently working on a movie based on the hugely popular tabletop role-playing gameDungeons & Dragons, but it has also now been revealed that the company is also actively developing a live-action television show to go with it. Brian Goldner, the CEO of Hasbro, announced earlier this week that the company very much intends to commit to the franchise, with the company’s entertainment arm currently in the early stages of developing a live action show based around the lore ofDungeons and Dragons.
“[The team is] also working on a couple of different approaches, because there is so much mythology in Canon to -Dungeons & Dragons for live action television,” Goldner said on Hasbro’s quarterly earnings call. “And there’s been very strong interest. We’ve talked about how many global streamers and terrestrial broadcasters have been very interested in Dungeons & Dragons.”
Sadly, no other details are yet known about the potential small screen project, with Goldner mentioning the development of a television series while discussing the upcomingDungeons and Dragonsfeature film, which iscurrently in pre-productionand scheduled for release in 2022. From this small-yet-tantalizing slice of information, it certainly sounds like Hasbro is looking at all aspects of the property, with the idea to explore one of the many other worlds ofDungeons & Dragons.
The long gestatingDungeons and Dragonsmovie finally made some headway earlier this year, bringing inGame Night directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, with the duo attached to write and direct the project. Though not much is known about the highly anticipatedDungeons and Dragonsmovie, Goldstein and Daley have offered some insight as to how far along with the process they are, as well as teasing the movie’s tone.
“We want it to be fun,” Goldstein said back in May. “It’s not an out and out comedy, but it is an action-fantasy movie with a lot of comedic elements and characters we hope people will really get into and enjoy watching their adventures.”
“D&Dis such a unique look at the fantasy genre where it is contemporary in terms of the people playing it and the way they speak to each other,” John Francis Daley added, before revealing their approach to the material. “So, we never wanted to spoof the genre of fantasy or take the piss out of it. But we did want to find another way into it that we hadn’t necessarily seen before. Just the format of Dungeons & Dragons is so interesting and fun and all about critical thinking and thinking on your feet and figuring out ways to make things work after they fall flat. There’s a lot of the spirit of that that we’re trying to inject into the movie itself.”
For those that have perhaps been living under a rock,Dungeons & Dragonsis one of the most recognizable names in fantasy and role-playing games. Originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, it was first published in 1974, and has since become one of the best-known, and best-selling, role-playing games in the world. With people forced to stay indoors lately, the brand has seen a 20% increase in sales compared to last year, with many turning to the beloved fantasy game as an escape from the crushing bleakness that is 2020.
So, there is now an even bigger fanbase celebrating the announcement of a television series as well as movie. This comes to us fromHasbro.
