D&D Movie/TV Paramount+ Will Not Proceed with Dungeons & Dragons Live-Action TV Show

Deadline reports that the live-action Dungeons & Dragons television series will not continue at Paramount+. The show was originally announced in January 2023 as Paramount+ placed an eight episode straight-to-series order. Normally that’s the best you can hope for in terms of a guarantee of the show happening as the show would produce the entire first season instead of needing to make a pilot to be approved.

Two big corporate changes happened since then, however. First, Hasbro sold the show’s co-producer Entertainment One to Lionsgate in December 2023 and shifted the production to Hasbro Entertainment. Currently, Paramount is searching for a buyer for the company with the current front runner according to reports being Sony Pictures, who have partnered with private equity firms to place a rumored $26 billion offer for the studio.

Little was announced about the plot other than it would be character-focused and involve the Underdark. These tidbits plus the fact that the character of Xenk from the 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves was originally intended to be Drizzt Do'Urden but changed during pre-production led to speculation that the series would be an adaptation of the Drizzt novels, particularly the origin story novel Homeland.

Creator Rawson Marshall Thurber (Red Notice, Easy A, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) and showrunner Drew Crevello (The Grudge 2, WeCrashed) are still attached to the project. Hasbro will repackage and update the pitch for the show and stop it around to other distributors.

 

[MNblockhead]

Which is 50 million in todays money. By comparison, Witcher S1 was in 70-80 million range. In total, they spent 330 million on 2 seasons plus Blood origin. That's nice chunk of change.

How profitable was it? I know a lot of "true" Witcher fans panned the series, but I enjoyed it. A D&D show with a similar budget could be good if the writing is good and the characters at a low level. High level D&D is too high magic and gonzo to do well without and very healthy effects budget.

 

[Wolfpack48]

I was referring specifically to your assessment of The Boys' writing. It has some of the best written complex characters in current genre fiction, miles better than its source material.

I have not seen any of the other shows you mentioned except RoP, which I like even if it is not Tolkien.

I'm just not happy with The Boys story arc after the most recent season. Basically no progress and back to the same situation as the beginning.

 

[MNblockhead]

Vox Machina, as far as animations go, isn't even that good. It's ok. From pure technical side of it. But it's fun to watch.

I'm not informed enough to judge, but I was impressed with the Vox Machina animation. The depiction of dragons in Vox Machina is among the best in any movie or TV series, animated or live-action.

 

[MNblockhead]

As much as I enjoyed HAT, it didn't need all the special effects. In some ways I think it hurt because people thought it would just be another superhero CGI fest. Some things, like the dragon wiping out an army were cool, but were they really needed? I would have rather had a low level group with fairly minimal CGI for a lower budget movie instead of going to spectacle to bring people in.

Ah well, water under the bridge.

I like the eye candy but I found the mix of practical effects and CGI to be jarring. The escape scene with the aarakocra and the scene where Xenk saves the child tabaxi from the large fish were incongruous with the overall visuals of the movie.

 

[Parmandur]

The thing is, the need much more than D&D fans to make a show successful. It has to appeal to a much broader audience. I'm not sure the OGL fiasco has had any impact on the decision on whether a D&D show gets made. Given the success of Baldurs Gate 3, I would think that that IP has enough brand recognition, that they could draw a large enough audience to make a show based on that IP successful. I wouldn't be as excited about a Baldurs Gate based show, but I think it would make a lot of sense in terms of marketing.

I mean, by the numbers, they sold like 8 million tickets in the US for HAT. In order to be successful, they needed to sell way, way more...but 8 million butts in seats is hard to do. The Barrier for "success" in modern Hollywood is extremely high.

 

[payn]

I mean, by the numbers, they sold like 8 million tickets in the US for HAT. In order to be successful, they needed to sell way, way more...but 8 million butts in seats is hard to do. The Barrier for "success" in modern Hollywood is extremely high.

Honestly, I think it did very well considering the sandwich of IP madness it released in.

 

[Jaeger]

They did the same thing in the 00s looking for the next "Lord of the Rings" and turned Narnia into a massive epic. When that failed, they licensed every YA book they could get their hands on looking for the "next Harry Potter". We're likely at the end of looking for the "next MCU" as most attempts at making a shared universe have faceplanted.

Mostly because they were reactive rather than proactive.

Marvel did a lot of build up that led to the first Avengers film. And they wouldn't have gotten that far if Iron Man didn't stick the landing.

Everyone else (DC), was trying to go straight to their equivalent of an 'Avengers' film without all the build up and fan goodwill generation that Marvel studios did at the time.

The goal needs to be to make a good film/TV show. Not to just do a content hunt, and try to instantly create the next hot IP X, by buying and adapting IP Y...

The thing is, the need much more than D&D fans to make a show successful. It has to appeal to a much broader audience.

And this is where D&D Honor among thieves ultimately failed.

The release date did it no favors, but in my opinion; Their biggest issue was that they also tried to jump straight into 150mil blockbuster budget territory with only vague brand name recognition to excite the broader audience.

There are other issues I could list; but the inflated budget for the story that they were telling was their biggest sin...

 

[Zardnaar]

Honestly, I think it did very well considering the sandwich of IP madness it released in.

Think John Wick and Mario blew up more than what anyone expected.

 

[Zardnaar]

Mostly because they were reactive rather than proactive.

Marvel did a lot of build up that led to the first Avengers film. And they wouldn't have gotten that far if Iron Man didn't stick the landing.

Everyone else (DC), was trying to go straight to their equivalent of an 'Avengers' film without all the build up and fan goodwill generation that Marvel studios did at the time.

The goal needs to be to make a good film/TV show. Not to just do a content hunt, and try to instantly create the next hot IP X, by buying and adapting IP Y...




And this is where D&D Honor among thieves ultimately failed.

The release date did it no favors, but in my opinion; Their biggest issue was that they also tried to jump straight into 150mil blockbuster budget territory with only vague brand name recognition to excite the broader audience.

There are other issues I could list; but the inflated budget for the story that they were telling was their biggest sin...

This you need a cheaper successful lead in movie.

MCU, Star Wars, Terminator....... There's probably more examples.

 

[Oofta]

Mostly because they were reactive rather than proactive.

Marvel did a lot of build up that led to the first Avengers film. And they wouldn't have gotten that far if Iron Man didn't stick the landing.

Everyone else (DC), was trying to go straight to their equivalent of an 'Avengers' film without all the build up and fan goodwill generation that Marvel studios did at the time.

The goal needs to be to make a good film/TV show. Not to just do a content hunt, and try to instantly create the next hot IP X, by buying and adapting IP Y...




And this is where D&D Honor among thieves ultimately failed.

The release date did it no favors, but in my opinion; Their biggest issue was that they also tried to jump straight into 150mil blockbuster budget territory with only vague brand name recognition to excite the broader audience.

There are other issues I could list; but the inflated budget for the story that they were telling was their biggest sin...

Yeah, the D&D movie needed to do an Iron Man before trying to do a blockbuster. Part of why I think they should have started with low level PCs facing typical low level challenges.

Ah well. Everybody wants to hit a home run instead of just getting on base.