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]

Can you make good adult movie without it getting R rating? Sure. Lot's of good drama movies are very adult oriented, with it's themes and plots, yet they don't contain anything visually explicit to get them R rating. On the other hand, some stories work best with R rated content. I guess you could make Clockwork Orange into pg-13 movie, but it's not the same story. It needs it's graphical depictions to convey it's message.

Well, sure, obviously. R rated stuff can be adult and mature, but so can G rated stuff (Straight Story, every movie made between the early 30's and 1968). The rating has no bearing whatsoever on whether a mature adult can find value in a piece, or an artist develop a piece of art pleasing to adults.

But, shows made for tv era and shows for streaming era are two different beasts. In tv era, there were time slots in programing. And anything with mature rating was forced into late program, and then you loose viewership, plus commercial value is lower, which leads to- less money. In streaming era, you don't have that kind of restriction.

Yes, sure. However, by and large, PG-13and TV-14 stuff gets more eyeballs. Even adults usually prefer material in thst range, as born out by box office and streaming ratings.

 

[TiQuinn]

it's still a minority of the population that plays

A minority of the population watch the NFL, so what’s your point.

 

[GrimCo]

Well, sure, obviously. R rated stuff can be adult and mature, but so can G rated stuff (Straight Story, every movie made between the early 30's and 1968). The rating has no bearing whatsoever on whether a mature adult can find value in a piece, or an artist develop a piece of art pleasing to adults.

I agree. Rating only gives more freedom to visually show more explicit content. Since tv/movies are visual media, depending on the themes are plots, not everything works as G rated stuff.

Yes, sure. However, by and large, PG-13and TV-14 stuff gets more eyeballs. Even adults usually prefer material in thst range, as born out by box office and streaming ratings.

Of course it get's more eyeballs since it has larger targeted demographics. That's one of the reasons big block busters try hard to stay in that Pg-13 range. Big budget movies are to expensive and they need biggest possible customer base to recoup expenses and make money. Also, chinese market. Getting R rated western movie into chinese teathers is mission impossible. Don't get me wrong, good pg-13 movie or show can be interesting for adults, but some stories just work better with more graphical visuals. In d&d terms- mainstream FR or Eberron? Pg-13 no problem. Dark Sun or Ravenloft? R rated.

 

[Parmandur]

I agree. Rating only gives more freedom to visually show more explicit content. Since tv/movies are visual media, depending on the themes are plots, not everything works as G rated stuff.

Of course it get's more eyeballs since it has larger targeted demographics. That's one of the reasons big block busters try hard to stay in that Pg-13 range. Big budget movies are to expensive and they need biggest possible customer base to recoup expenses and make money. Also, chinese market. Getting R rated western movie into chinese teathers is mission impossible. Don't get me wrong, good pg-13 movie or show can be interesting for adults, but some stories just work better with more graphical visuals. In d&d terms- mainstream FR or Eberron? Pg-13 no problem. Dark Sun or Ravenloft? R rated.

Yes, but not just a wider audience of children: I'm not so sensitive myself, but I know plenty of perfectly mature adults who don't like explicit material at an R level. Restrictions like modern Chinese censorship and the Hayes code don't come from nowhere. Many adults will vote with their wallets on that front

 

[bedir than]

A minority of the population watch the NFL, so what’s your point.

The NFL may be the only thing that the majority of Americans enjoy

In Focus | Who are NFL fans and how can brands engage them? | Post | Genius Sports

The NFL is the largest sports property in the world, but how can brands engage NFL fans at scale in personalised and contextual ways?

geniussports.com

There's lots of evidence that 50-60% of Americans enjoy and watch the NFL

 

[TiQuinn]

The NFL may be the only thing that the majority of Americans enjoy

In Focus | Who are NFL fans and how can brands engage them? | Post | Genius Sports

The NFL is the largest sports property in the world, but how can brands engage NFL fans at scale in personalised and contextual ways?

geniussports.com

There's lots of evidence that 50-60% of Americans enjoy and watch the NFL

Their peak audience for the season was on the order of 20 million viewers. The most watched Super Bowl was this year’s with 123 million people worldwide.

There’s over 300 million people in the U.S.

But it’s besides the point. The point is that the OP created a ridiculous goal for TTRPGs to have to meet - “the majority of the population” and didn’t even define what that “population” is. I’m guessing they mean the nebulous “geek” population which I’m sure only they know the number of.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Let's remember lots of old movies were for "adult audiences" but there weren't too violent for the current standars, for example about the WWII or noir films where a private eye had to visit the dirtiest places of the city.

Even Ravenloft could allow some space of horror stories for children, style "Scary Stories to tell in the Dark" or "Frankelda's Book of Spooks". For example a group of children surviving hags in Tepest, or Maligno in Odiare.

I remember when the first movie "Child's Play" was released, the age rating was "for all audiences" because then these allowed certain level of violence, +7 rating hadn't arrived yet. Did you watch Roger Corman's "The Pit and the Pendulum"?

 

[mamba]

nvm

 

[bloodtide]

You don’t speak for adults or general audiences.

The ratings and more so the money does. For hour long scripted TV shows you see cop, detective, law, medical drama and related shows are the the most popular TV shows on Ye Old Network TV. You see the same, adding crime shows, for Ye Old Cable. And now we have streaming to add a sprinkle of horror and fantasy.

When you look at any top ten show(hour long scripted) list you sure see a lot of mature stuff....Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, The Wire, and Game of Thones are on most lists.

Adults want to watch adult entertainment.....not "bonk I hit the bad guy on the head with a turkey leg!"

 

[Zardnaar]

The ratings and more so the money does. For hour long scripted TV shows you see cop, detective, law, medical drama and related shows are the the most popular TV shows on Ye Old Network TV. You see the same, adding crime shows, for Ye Old Cable. And now we have streaming to add a sprinkle of horror and fantasy.

When you look at any top ten show(hour long scripted) list you sure see a lot of mature stuff....Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Twin Peaks, The Wire, and Game of Thones are on most lists.

Adults want to watch adult entertainment.....not "bonk I hit the bad guy on the head with a turkey leg!"

The shows that come up on best shows of all time are generally R rated as well.

Game of Thrones early seasons, Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire usually get mentioned.

Prestige TV very much aimed at adults.