D&D General What Are Dragonlance's Weis & Hickman, and Actor Manganiello Cooking Up?

Actor and D&D superfan Joe Manganiello and Dragonlance co-author Tracy Hickman have both posted a cryptic image on their respective social medias showing themselves, along with Margaret Weis standing together in front of a large dragon statue at Wizards of the Coast's offices in Renton, Washington.

Hickman's image was accompanied by the words "Something is coming...", and in Manganiello's case "WE'RE BACK", to which Wizards of the Coast replied "Welcome back to the table!" A later photograph from Weis also included Laura Hickman and Dan Ayoub, who was named head of Dungeons & Dragons back in July of this year.

The posts have sparked speculation as to what they might mean, with guesses ranging from a revival of Manganiello's Dragonlance TV show project--which was no longer in development after he stated in February 2024 that "Dragonlance is not a property WotC are interested in developing further currently"--to a new Dragonlance-based D&D adventure.

Weis and Hickman co-wrote a new Dragonlance trilogy in recent years following a legal dust-up with Wizards of the Coast which was ultimately dismissed without prejudice, so it would seem that any bad blood from the dispute has been left in the past.

The question now remains--what are they all cooking up this time?

 

[Demetrios1453]

From page 28 of my copy of Dragons of Autumn Twilight:

Caramon wants Tanis and Flint to guess who Tika is. She gives them a hint that Caramon once said she was so ugly her father would have to pay someone to marry her.

Tanis replies: “Well, the years have proved him wrong. I’ve traveled many roads, and you’re one of the prettiest girls I’ve seen on Krynn.”


Elmore was born in 1948, so he would have come of age during the hippy era (late 60s / early 70s). It’s no wonder he likes to include feathers and deer skin and all that in his paintings.

I had a friend who was a friend of Elmore's, and even met him on a couple of occasions in the late '80s/early '90s (It was always "Larry Elmore is here, keep quiet about it so he doesn't get mobbed!" as this is when his art was at the peak of its popularity). And yep, he does have that hippie side. Also, he's from and still lives in rural Kentucky, so feathers and buckskin are part of that part of his upbringing as well...

 

[Nicholas Reed]

More than likely they're working on new Dragonlance gaming materials and exploring what form an adaption of the Chronicles would take. But we will see gaming stuff well before any adaptation, I wager. Also, everyone is assuming it will be a TV or Movie adaptation, but I propose that a video game adaptation is just as likely.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I had a friend who was a friend of Elmore's, and even met him on a couple of occasions in the late '80s/early '90s (It was always "Larry Elmore is here, keep quiet about it so he doesn't get mobbed!" as this is when his art was at the peak of its popularity). And yep, he does have that hippie side. Also, he's from and still lives in rural Kentucky, so feathers and buckskin are part of that part of his upbringing as well...

I've met and spoken with him a few times, and he's the nicest person you'll ever meet. He even invited me to his house if I was ever near Paducah lol. He's also a huge motorcycle guy (though doesn't ride any longer), and always reminded me of Dennis Hopper's character from Easy Rider.

So yeah, the time frame and culture? All those feathers and buckskin totally make sense.

 

[mamba]

So, to clarify, in your eyes it's a binary choice--having white characters is "a good story" and having non-white characters is not a good story?

I submit that you can have good stories where there characters are not all white.

No, I agree that good stories can have a mix of people of all kinds of types, or predominantly white, predominantly black, etc.

My point is that having a diverse cast is not what makes it a good story. The ‘for modern audiences’ bit to me overemphasize diversity and neglects everything else that goes into making it a good story, as if diversity alone is what decides whether a movie / series is good

 

[Paul Farquhar]

No, I agree that good stories can have a mix of people of all kinds of types, or predominantly white, predominantly black, etc.

My point is that having a diverse cast is not what makes it a good story. The ‘for modern audiences’ bit to me overemphasize diversity and neglects everything else that goes into making it a good story, as if diversity alone is what decides whether a movie / series is good

Having good actors is definitely required to tell a good story. Which means casting based on resemblance to a particular artist’s interpretation of a character rather than acting ability will inevitably lead to a bad show.

But for me, I’m afraid it’s about politics. In the current climate, not having a diverse cast shows that the showrunners are not on my side, so I’m not going to give them my money, no matter how good the show is.

 

[pukunui]

No, I agree that good stories can have a mix of people of all kinds of types, or predominantly white, predominantly black, etc.

My point is that having a diverse cast is not what makes it a good story. The ‘for modern audiences’ bit to me overemphasize diversity and neglects everything else that goes into making it a good story, as if diversity alone is what decides whether a movie / series is good

I never said it was. My main desires for a modernized Chronicles story would not be about the diversity of the cast but about carefully avoiding real-world cultural appropriation (e.g. the Native American look that Elmore gave several characters) and racial stereotyping (e.g. gully dwarves are all stupid, kender are all kleptomaniacs, tinker gnomes all have OCD, etc).

 

[Scribe]

tinker gnomes all have OCD

I'm 99% sure that's not the case.

Source, living with someone with debilitating actual OCD.

 

[GreyLord]

No, I agree that good stories can have a mix of people of all kinds of types, or predominantly white, predominantly black, etc.

My point is that having a diverse cast is not what makes it a good story. The ‘for modern audiences’ bit to me overemphasize diversity and neglects everything else that goes into making it a good story, as if diversity alone is what decides whether a movie / series is good

Maybe not alone, but it helps people to relate to the cast. A broader representation which brings in multiple ethnicities and races makes more people relate to a cast than simply a monochrome approach.

For example, I, as a PoC, would love to see Caramon and Raistlin as PoC's. Why not? I don't see how it would detract in any way if they were presented in that manner. Raistlin is already shown with Gold colored skin, simply add it on top of beautiful dark skin and have hourglass eyes and it would be perfect.

Goldmoon and Riverwind as Native Americans would make sense to me.

And I think elves are talked about having slightly slanted eyes in Dragonlance already. Having them be Asian could match up, and that would mean Tanis would be Half-Asian.

The Western World is a diverse world today. Many different cultures and people are part of it. It is not a white man's domain and it's not a society where only whites are allowed to have representation. Everyone likes to have their people represented in some way. The more people you can represent in a cast means the more people might be able to connect to that cast.

Good writing is a must, but don't discount how important having diversity can be.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I don't need people to resemble me to find appeal in fiction.

I do need, however, people to actually have an appearance that makes sense. So, yes, there needs to be at least a passing resemblance between characters that are intended to be biological siblings. Isolated populations should generally resemble each other, not be diverse in appearance just for the sake of it.

If a description is given for a fictional character, I'm more satisfied if that is adhered to. Generally the creator knows what they're doing. Case in point, the Earthsea adaptions disregarding the author's descriptions of her own characters. It doesn't really matter if Ged is portrayed by Shawn Ashmore (the plot doesn't revolve around his skin colour) but a certain part of the story's soul has been lost and the adaption turned into a generic sort of mush.

 

[AnotherGuy]

I think what @mamba is trying to say, is it necessary to state for modern audiences?
As opposed to which audiences?