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.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

should she also be irrational and jump off the ship in the middle of the ocean or insult the people you are stranded with and are your only means to get where you want to?

She lived under a monstrous vow for longer than your ancestors have been wearing clothes, so... maybe?

 

[mamba]

She lived under a monstrous vow for longer than your ancestors have been wearing clothes, so... maybe?

well, then she should have drowned in the middle of the ocean too, as far as I am concerned

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes the studio executives are looking at a B level board game and making decisions about movie and tv projects. Really? There is no way this was a factor in the decision.

I mean Barbie sales have fallen off a cliff the past decade and yet they still made a movie. Yet tv and movie studios were looking at the DL board game that was marketed with little fan fare as the bellwether on whether a DL movie or tv show would succeed.

Barbie is one of the most recognized brands on the planet. Cultures that don't have television know who Barbie is. This is a silly comparison to make.

I get that you really like Dragonlance, but there's just no strong case to be made to studio executives in favor of it.

 

[jerryrice4949]

Barbie is one of the most recognized brands on the planet. Cultures that don't have television know who Barbie is. This is a silly comparison to make.

I get that you really like Dragonlance, but there's just no strong case to be made to studio executives in favor of it.

I think you missed my point. I agree there is no strong case to be made to studio executives. We agree. That is why it did not go forward! Not because the lackluster sales of the cheesy board game and adventure. That had nothing to do with it.

I just want people to stop making the silly statement that studio execs nixed it because the board game. That’s all. I sure they had solid business reasons.

 

[Clint_L]

I think this view is ironically more prevelant with older folks, then younger. I've seen no actual evidence that young folks reject DL as a whole or its story.

I've seen no evidence that they care about it one way or the other. I could ask the kids in D&D Club at school, but I suspect I will just get blank stares. Same if I asked them about Drizz't or the D&D cartoon, etc.

Dragonlance has virtually no brand recognition outside of older D&D fans like us. The IP wasn't going to sell it, the D&D brand itself, plus a good story was always going to have to do it. To me, it always seemed like a long shot, so I'm not really shocked by the news. It sucks that it was cancelled, though; I like Joe Manganiello, and am always rooting for D&D (or any other RPG).

 

[Rystefn]

If your fantasy involves dragons and a random assortment of heroes making a long and perilous journey through the wilderness, accompanied by someone who could plausibly be considered a wizard, you've got a generic fantasy.

That's Lord of the Rings, Wheel of Time, Willow and the Dragonlance Chronicles.

It's not Game of Thrones or Harry Potter.

Amazon Prime already has two generic fantasies and, frankly, neither is exactly setting the world on fire. Disney cancelled Willow. It would have been a shock if the studios decided to get into the same niche when the audience doesn't seem to be there in satisfactory numbers.

If there was a time when either Got or HP weren't generic fantasy, that time was at least 25-30 years ago. For the entire 21st century, both grimdark edgelord and wizard school have been wildly more common than traditional heroic high fantasy.

 

[Rystefn]

Also, I think it's kind of hilarious that I got so much pushback on the GRRM thing and no response whatsoever to "Kender are awesome, and if you don't like them, you just hate fun." That's probably the first time I've ever said something positive about kender on the internet and not gotten pounced by a horde of people about it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Why not a cartoon serie instead an action-live production?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I've seen no evidence that they care about it one way or the other. I could ask the kids in D&D Club at school, but I suspect I will just get blank stares. Same if I asked them about Drizz't or the D&D cartoon, etc.

Dragonlance has virtually no brand recognition outside of older D&D fans like us. The IP wasn't going to sell it, the D&D brand itself, plus a good story was always going to have to do it. To me, it always seemed like a long shot, so I'm not really shocked by the news. It sucks that it was cancelled, though; I like Joe Manganiello, and am always rooting for D&D (or any other RPG).

That is because they bungled the relaunch, just like they did Spelljammer and Planescape.

Give those kids the OG novels to read, that's where it starts.

 

[GrimCo]

Why not a cartoon serie instead an action-live production?

This. TBH i think most of traditional settings would be better fit for animated show, than live action one. Lot cheaper and lot easier to be faithful to source material than doing it live action. You could probably do whole 8 episode season for the price of just special effects budget in live action. Fantasy shows are expensive. Especially if you are going for epic fantasy with big flashy spells and dragons.