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.

 

[Birmy]

Agree that Page steals the show and that's why I would make sure to include her in the sequel. An easy storyline would have Pine and Rodriguez captured by the Thayens, and the story follows her, Simon and Bug as they travel across Faerun to rescue them. Have it end with them getting to Thay, and if that one does well, bring back Pine and Rodriguez for the 3rd film.

OP is referring to Rege-Jean Page (Xenk).

 

[bedir than]

The reason we got an Lego transformer toy is that Hasbro’s transformer toys aren’t selling.

Transformers is one of the few Hasbro toy lines that IS selling.

It's their lower tier stuff that has a glut of inventory killing their revenue and profit, not Transformers.

 

[OB1]

OP is referring to Rege-Jean Page (Xenk).

Oh, yeah def need Xenk to come back for a cameo as well. Got the name mixed up with Lillis (who was also great).

 

[bloodtide]

Dr. Who has done this for decades. And Who's going to argue it hasn't been successful?

Doctor Who has done Okay.

The only answer to that is “one with the D&D logo on it”. Without the logo, there are a great many D&D shows already out and about.

Sadly the industry does not agree. When they hear "D&D" they think "silly mindless kids stuff for 5 year olds".

 

[payn]

Sadly the industry does not agree. When they hear "D&D" they think "silly mindless kids stuff for 5 year olds".

Is that how you see the recent film DADHAT?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Is that how you see the recent film DADHAT?

Well obviously, if there isn’t a popular major character being beheaded every five minutes it’s clearly intended for 5 year olds!

 

[bloodtide]

Is that how you see the recent film DADHAT?

D&D Hat?

Is that like an animated film or something? A direct to video(or streaming?) movie behind some paywall? Is it on that Purple Worm channel?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

D&D Hat?

Is that like an animated film or something? A direct to video(or streaming?) movie behind some paywall? Is it on that Purple Worm channel?

Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

 

[bloodtide]

Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Oh...totally missed that one.

And the answer is yes...."Hat" is just a goofy Marvel film...with D&D on the front.

From the first trailer with the barbarian "fighting with the stone block" I knew it would be endless slapstick rated Y goofy humor....and it was.

This is the problem. Someone says "lets do a goofy silly dumb thing" in a D&D show and everyone will laugh and say "yea, cool, lets do it" happily.

Of course....pick a lot of other types of shows...like say drama. And say something silly goofy and people will not go along with it..."you will ruin the show" with the dumb comedy.

 

[Wolfpack48]

No, I think it's different than that, and I think that's part of why the D&D movie didn't do as well as some here think it should have.

1. It's a decent movie. It's a mediocre movie. It's not a GREAT movie as some here think. It's a GREAT movie to some here, but as movies go, it's not bad...but it's not great either. It's better than the last theatrical D&D movie released...but that's not that high of a bar to meet. It may be the greatest D&D movie ever made (with the Official D&D branding on it at least)...but once again...that's not that high of a bar to meet. It's a decent movie, but it's not what I would term as something I would have really investigated or gone out of my way to see if it didn't have the D&D branding on it and I wasn't an avid D&D fan already.

2. It's not what many people see D&D as. They think of D&D more like a Tolkien type of fantasy movie. In that light, The Fellowship of the Ring and the First Hobbit movie are FAR better D&D movies and WHAT PEOPLE may actually expect of a D&D movie...rather than what we got. Sure, it seems a LOT like D&D to those on these forums and many who play, but the average person who's exposure to fantasy (and thus what they think a fantasy game would try to replicate) are LotR and Harry Potter...that D&D movie is absolutely NOT it.

Tieflings, humorous bards, and Wizards who don't wizard...really doesn't seem as much of D&D fantasy to many (though it IS fantasy) as something more like a traditional epic fantasy to them.

3. And of course, there were the fans already that boycotted the movie due to the OGL situation (which was a stupid and idiotic move to try to make just a few months/weeks before a major movie release...Hasbro/WotC should thank their lucky stars that they were blessed that they weren't sued from hell and back for that move...that move alone probably cost several tens of millions of dollars...if not more).

So...a TV show that is going to be D&D to an audience...probably should fill the arena of what the GENERAL public thinks of when they think of D&D. There are a lot of Fantasy shows out already (on Amazon) like Rings of Power and Wheel of time and the Cartoon show based on the streaming group that is popular on these forums...so to compete that way...they need something that fulfills what the general public wants as the gaming groups for D&D probably already have what they want.

it’s also that movies in the theater in general aren't by doing that well right now. And it’s going to get worse. Any future will be in streaming.