D&D Movie/TV Joe Manganiello: Dragonlance TV Show No Longer In Development

Actor Joe Manganiello has confirmed that the anticipated Dragonlance TV show that he had been working on is no longer being developed. In an interview with ComicBook.com. According to Manganiello, following poor sales of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and the Warriors of Krynn board game last year, "Dragonlance is not a property [WotC] are interested in developing further currently". This decision was also prompted by Hasbro's sale of its media studio, eOne.

In March last year, Manganiello confirmed during an official D&D video update that he was working on a TV show for WotC, and a D&D live action series was greenly by Paramount in January. It's not clear if these are the same property.

Manganiello also talked about his approach to the property, and the new designs he had for the world, the dragons, and even the casting. "I want to make [the show] because I want to see it and I just want to feel that excited and electric about something. The characters...like the casting, I have a look book with over 1,000 pages, but it's not what you expect. The design concepts I had for the world, for the armor, for the swords....I had a fresh take on what the dragons were going to look like, it was going to be nothing like anyone has ever seen."

He has been working on a script for years, and was told by TV executives that his pilot was one of the best fantasy scripts they had ever read. He even offered to buy Dragonlance from WotC.

You can watch the whole interview at the link above.

 

[michaeljpastor]

D&D really should focus on one-offs like DC and Marvel do, and focus on side stories, origins, and historical events that add color to regions and dungeons without spoiling the adventures set there, unless those stories are dead.

A Planescape mini-series based on the fall of Aoskar narrated by Ravel would be great, for example.

DC and Marvel do not focus on one-offs, except maybe in the realm of animated movies, which rarely come with sequels (with a few notable exceptions).

 

[Incenjucar]

DC and Marvel do not focus on one-offs, except maybe in the realm of animated movies, which rarely come with sequels (with a few notable exceptions).

Okay. Do lots and lots and lots of one-offs like Marvel and DC do.

 

[mamba]

Today, the first Dragonlance novel ranks 1,163,278 among books on Amazon. This is in comparison with the Fellowship of the Rings, which looks like it ranks 2,538.

one of the two is out of print as far as I can tell… you can use that fact for your argument if you want to, but the sales rank is misleading since you are not taking it into account

 

[mamba]

That's actually a good point for comparison. People have been mentioning that Dragonlance is usable as a TV show concept, but would need 1) to update the race and gender distribution of the characters*, and 2) rebuild or reframe the central narrative. Well, Lord of the Rings just put out a billion-dollar TV series that updated the race and gender distribution and made a new** central narrative, and while we don't know the actual viewership figures, the public impression is that it has bombed spectacularly. If anything, it is a strong indicator that just setting stories in a setting people already love isn't a guarantee for something to be a success.

yes, Rings of Power is a great example for unlimited funds not being all that it takes, you need a good story.

Rings does not have that, it is cobbled together from the appendices to LotR and a lot of things the writers just come up with themselves (which imo is subpar at best) because the appendices are so sparse.

DL on the other hand is a fully formed story, you are not just taking the world of Krynn at a different place in time with almost none of the famous characters the way Rings did.

Rings is a story set in an inauthentic Middle Earth, filled with unlikeable characters behaving in nonsensical ways, hoping that the name Tolkien alone is enough to elevate their drivel, or at least helps enough to attract sufficient numbers of viewers to it, because certainly the story itself cannot

 

[michaeljpastor]

yes, Rings of Power is a great example for unlimited funds not being all that it takes, you need a good story.

I'm enjoying the story quite a bit, in exactly the way that prequels satisfy my itch for more materiel then was originally presented.

Rings does not have that, it is cobbled together from the appendices to LotR and a lot of things the writers just come up with themselves (which imo is subpar at best) because the appendices are so sparse. DL on the other hand is a fully formed story, you are not just taking the world of Krynn at a different place in time with almost none of the famous characters the way Rings did.

100% incorrect. Joe wasn't producing a faithful adaptation of Dragonlance, but was producing a story of unmined gold (his words) that the original authors left a map of for him to follow. He wasn't using any of the established characters in his treatment. Helluva lot less than Tolkien's unfinished works.

Rings is a story set in an inauthentic Middle Earth, filled with unlikeable characters behaving in nonsensical ways, hoping that the name Tolkien alone is enough to elevate their drivel, or least helps enough to attract sufficient numbers of viewers to it, because certainly the story itself cannot

You subjective opinion of a particular execution of licensed IP is one thing. You address none of the points anyone has brought up in regards to the reality of producing a licensed work.

 

[mamba]

I'm enjoying the story quite a bit, in exactly the way that prequels satisfy my itch for more materiel then was originally presented.

well, I am not, it is a nonsensical story with unlikeable characters, I am rooting for Sauron at this point

100% incorrect. Joe wasn't producing a faithful adaptation of Dragonlance, but was producing a story of unmined gold (his words) that the original authors left a map of for him to follow. He wasn't using any of the established characters in his treatment. Helluva lot less than Tolkien's unfinished works.

was not aware of that, I thought he basically would turn the trilogy into a TV series (with the adjustments something like that always entails)

 

[Zardnaar]

well, I am not, it is a nonsensical story with unlikeable characters, I am rooting for Sauron at this point


was not aware of that, I thought he basically would turn the trilogy into a TV series (with the adjustments something like that always entails)

I wouldn't adapt the DL novels to be honest.

I was 15 when I first read them and they weren't very good vs otherv80s and 90s fantasy. I've tried rereading them since and they're kinda bad. Along with some of my old favorites aged 15-17 (David Eddings, Gemmell, Feist etc).

 

[michaeljpastor]

well, I am not, it is a nonsensical story with unlikeable characters, I am rooting for Sauron at this point


was not aware of that, I thought he basically would turn the trilogy into a TV series (with the adjustments something like that always entails)

So far the only unlikeable character I've found is the proto-Gandalf. And I'm rooting for Sauron too, which is actually the point of good character development, particularly with your adversary.

 

[Zardnaar]

So far the only unlikeable character I've found is the proto-Gandalf. And I'm rooting for Sauron too, which is actually the point of good character development, particularly with your adversary.

All hail Sauron.

It was very pretty though.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Baldur's Gate 3 has a better cachet right now than Dragonlance. I predict that there will be a BG3 development deal soon, and it will be announced during the 50th anniversary year. They'd be idiots not to (and expect a BG3 splatbook to come with it).

From your lips to Vlakkith's ears.