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.

 

[Parmandur]

I used the RT top 10 and included sci-fi.
Every year there were several dozen SERIES across a spectrum of streaming platforms.
The most well known of these are House of the Dragon, many Star Treks, Wheel of Time, Rings of Power, Shadow & Bone, The Irregulars and literally dozens more.

It is not an example of a TV/streaming series. You keep bringing this up, but it has nothing to do with what people are watching on their screens.

This is also not a TV/streaming series. The series in question do not emulate Guardians of the Galaxy. There's nothing Rings of Power has in common with the MCU for example. Nor Percy Jackson. Nor Shadow & Bone. Nor Star Trek: Discovery.

It's not that different if you look outside of genre: top box office and viewership go to PG-13 and TV-14...and not juat with babies.

 

[mamba]

The D&D group is sure to include something like a goofy bard, a strong female barbarian, a goofy wizard who can't spell, a strong female ranger/druid and a short actor to be a halfling fighter?

I wonder where you got that from

 

[mamba]

In 2023 zero of the Rotten Tomatoes best sci-fi/fantasy series were R/MA
In 2022 only one was
In 2021 zero

that might have something to do with how many in each category are being made

 

[bedir than]

R16 + is rarer no one's disputing that.
What we are saying is there's money there.

You do understand different demographics like different things right?

Except there's not money for TV/streaming series there unless it is specifically related to Game of Thrones on HBO.
Apple hasn't done it. Showtime hasn't done it for Paramount. Netflix hasn't done it. Hulu hasn't done it. Peacock hasn't done it. WBD hasn't done it. HBO hasn't done it unless GRRM is involved.
Shudder does it only because they specifically target adult horror fans, but they're also super niche, not one of the 10 most watched streaming services.

There's an immense amount of data available.
One merely has to ignore all of it to see what works.

 

[Parmandur]

that might have something to do with how many in each category are being made

It has everything to do with the fact that most shows and films aimed at adults aim for TV-14/PG-13. R and MA are the exception, not the rule.

 

[Zardnaar]

Except there's not money for TV/streaming series there unless it is specifically related to Game of Thrones on HBO.
Apple hasn't done it. Showtime hasn't done it for Paramount. Netflix hasn't done it. Hulu hasn't done it. Peacock hasn't done it. WBD hasn't done it. HBO hasn't done it unless GRRM is involved.
Shudder does it only because they specifically target adult horror fans, but they're also super niche, not one of the 10 most watched streaming services.

There's an immense amount of data available.
One merely has to ignore all of it to see what works.

As I said I'm not claiming R16+ is the one true way forward.

The biggest selling D&D item of all time fits into that category just saying.

 

[bedir than]

that might have something to do with how many in each category are being made

dozens a year.

The biggest selling D&D item of all time fits into that category just saying.

Yes, you keep saying a video game that people play is the path forward for a TV series that people passively watch.

Also, that's not the series that Paramount had picked up and is now casting aside. It's Netflix that has the BG3 series (which, because it is Netflix will not be TV-MA)

 

[MonsterEnvy]

You can watch whatever you want to watch. Most adults want at least TV 14, but more R, MA, or above shows to watch. And this is even more true for a "general audience".

You don’t speak for adults or general audiences.

 

[Zardnaar]

dozens a year.

Yes, you keep saying a video game that people play is the path forward for a TV series that people passively watch.

Also, that's not the series that Paramount had picked up and is now casting aside. It's Netflix that has the BG3 series (which, because it is Netflix will not be TV-MA)

It's more an example of R16 working g.

The rating or quality of a show doesn't really matter just eyeballs that watch or better yet pay.

 

[Parmandur]

You don’t speak for adults or general audiences.

General audiences? Mostly babies who want to watch baby movies like the Maltese Falcon.