D&D Movie/TV Netflix Planning Forgotten Realms D&D TV Show With Stranger Things Producer

A Dungeons & Dragons TV show set in the Forgotten Realms is in development at Netflix. Deadline reports that the new TV series, titled The Forgotten Realms, is being produced by Shawn Levy, with Drew Crevello serving as writer and showrunner. No timeframe was given for the show's release. No cast has been announced and neither Hasbro nor Netflix has actually confirmed the project. If successful, the series could launch a wider D&D cinematic universe, long a goal for Hasbro.

Hasbro has tried unsuccessfully to get Dungeons & Dragons to television for several years. At one point, Paramount+ had a TV show in development with Rawson Marshall Thurber writing the pilot. While the project was ultimately scrapped, Crevello (who was set to be showrunner on that version of the show) stayed on the project and redeveloped it with a new concept. According to Deadline, this project is not tied to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, although the movie is set to debut on Netflix this month and is also set in the Forgotten Realms.

Dungeons & Dragons was also featured in an episode of Secret Level, an animated series focused on various game franchises that aired on Amazon Prime. Legendary, meanwhile, is adapting Hasbro's other major fantasy franchise Magic: The Gathering into a movie and TV project.

 

[Hussar]

Apparently, from what I heard anyway, the D&DHAT movie streamed really well on Netflix, so, I wonder if that might have had something to do with it.

But, yeah, I'm getting awfully tired of getting into a show, watching the first season when it comes out, and then seeing it die at the end of the first season. But, if I wait until a show has two or three seasons, it means I have like nothing to watch. Sigh.

 

[Aldarc]

Look, I have said it before and I will say it again and again until they make it happen:

Clone Wars quality Eberron animated series.

I doubt it. It's a little too modern for Hollywood's nostalgia, which leans older.

Apparently, from what I heard anyway, the D&DHAT movie streamed really well on Netflix, so, I wonder if that might have had something to do with it.

But, yeah, I'm getting awfully tired of getting into a show, watching the first season when it comes out, and then seeing it die at the end of the first season. But, if I wait until a show has two or three seasons, it means I have like nothing to watch. Sigh.

Cries in Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

 

[Parmandur]

This discussion will always remind me of 20 years ago, when HBO cancelled the show "Rome". Not because it wasn't popular. Not because it wasn't winning awards. But because they could make shows like "Extras" for much, much cheaper.

To a network or streamer CEO the question isn't "Does it have good ratings", necessarily, the question is often, "Could we achieve a better profit-to-cost ratio if we replaced it with "Is it Cake" or "The Floor is Lava".?"

I mean, those shows are great.

However, Netflix has shown a willingness to go big over multiple seasons (The Wither, Stranger Things).

 

[Parmandur]

Apparently, from what I heard anyway, the D&DHAT movie streamed really well on Netflix, so, I wonder if that might have had something to do with it.

But, yeah, I'm getting awfully tired of getting into a show, watching the first season when it comes out, and then seeing it die at the end of the first season. But, if I wait until a show has two or three seasons, it means I have like nothing to watch. Sigh.

I remember watching shows, falling in love, and the networks pulling them after 3 or 4 epiaodes.

 

[TiQuinn]

This discussion will always remind me of 20 years ago, when HBO cancelled the show "Rome". Not because it wasn't popular. Not because it wasn't winning awards. But because they could make shows like "Extras" for much, much cheaper.

To a network or streamer CEO the question isn't "Does it have good ratings", necessarily, the question is often, "Could we achieve a better profit-to-cost ratio if we replaced it with "Is it Cake" or "The Floor is Lava".?"

My understanding was the first season of Rome was crazy expensive. I thought I read that the budget for the first season alone matched what they would be spending on the later seasons of Game of Thrones.

 

[KYRON45]

I think the important question is this: Will every member of the cast, for reasons passing understanding and regardless of various ancestries and backgrounds all have a fake British accent?!?!

I mean really people...ask the right questions!!!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Which brings it to: is it possible to make a live action D&D show on a tight budget that doesn't look terrible?

 

[Reynard]

I doubt it. It's a little too modern for Hollywood's nostalgia, which leans older.

Both Eberron and animated Star Wars are ongoing concerns. Tho.

Not that I disagree in principle. It won't happen. Eberron is the most wasted property WotC has. It has so much potential.

 

[Vincent55]

To be honest there are many shows that filled the niche of "D&D" TV like shows some old like xena and roar, to the seeker and others who were less serious. A TV show can be done but you would have to be smart about it and don't get too big stars and keep the FX to a minimum. Buffy did a great job with many characters and so did shows like farscape with puppets and make up. You need to get the right combination together to give it a big feel but under budget.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There was the idea of setting a show almost entirely in the Underdark, which would save on filming costs by reusing the same sets with a few mat paintings. But would that get old quickly? Xena took advantage of New Zealand actually being a fantasyland, to reduce the cost of location shooting. Could StageCraft or similar tech be used to keep costs down?