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.

 

[TiQuinn]

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?

If they use the Sword Coast as the setting (and let’s be real, they totally will), that’s essentially the Pacific Northwest.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If they use the Sword Coast as the setting (and let’s be real, they totally will), that’s essentially the Pacific Northwest.

That's okay for wilderness (although I believe the cost of location filming in the US is high), but what about cities/towns/villages/castles? I believe The Wheel of Time blew a large chunk of their first season budget on the village set.

 

[Parmandur]

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

Depends on one's stomach for terrible, I reckon.

Something as lush as Honor Among Thieves? No.

Something that makes extensive use of Unreal Engine moving Matte paintings? Actually fairly doable.

 

[TiQuinn]

That's okay for wilderness (although I believe the cost of location filming in the US is high), but what about cities/towns/villages/castles? I believe The Wheel of Time blew a large chunk of their first season budget on the village set.

At some point, these guys gotta start reusing stuff.

End of the day, they’ll figure out the cheapest place with the most tax incentives. Eastern Europe? Ireland?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Eastern Europe? Ireland?

These are both good options, but it does mean a wetter than usual look to the Forgotten Realms…

 

[TiQuinn]

These are both good options, but it does mean a wetter than usual look to the Forgotten Realms…

Which to me, that’s totally what the Sword Coast would look like.

 

[Wolfpack48]

The other shows to watch are Fallout and The Last of Us. Fallout had an incredibly great reception on Prime, and it looks like both shows are renewed for season 2 (The Last of Us scheduled for April 2025).

I think Netflix in particular is still trying to figure out its series model.

 

[Reynard]

They won't do this, of course, but it occurs to me that one way to keep the budget down may be to old "old school" and make this show about a town and a dungeon and the collection of idiots that risk their life delving in search of loot (and revenge or love or whatever).

 

[jhilahd]

The show will struggle to get off the ground due to scheduling conflicts with the actors

Fair - but this could be cliff hanger for season one...Or at the least the pilot episode.

 

[Bomberooski]

Depends on one's stomach for terrible, I reckon.

Something as lush as Honor Among Thieves? No.

Something that makes extensive use of Unreal Engine moving Matte paintings? Actually fairly doable.

I have hit the age where "terrible" sounds nostalgic and nice. I don't know that I love this about myself right now but it's where I'm at .

Give me a good story and my old brain will put up with a lower budget show. And yes, I realize that this is a recipe for disaster for Netflix.