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?

 

[pukunui]

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

Source, living with someone with debilitating actual OCD.

Well, I mean what the authors and society in the 80s (and maybe even today?) thought OCD is.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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.

There are also practical reasons for doing this - gold makeup looks flat and artificial over pale skin. That’s one of the reasons for the casting of live action Ahsoka. And his twin should clearly be of the same ethnicity.

 

[AnotherGuy]

The draconian costume/makeup is going to be quite a costly affair I imagine.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The draconian costume/makeup is going to be quite a costly affair I imagine.

Yeah, I thought this. Really I can’t see it being practical outside animation.

 

[pukunui]

Unless I completely missed an earlier one, the first mention of Raistlin having white hair doesn’t come until page 154, when they’re in the draconians’ bamboo cage. Goldmoon is tending to the injured mage, “stroking back the white hair.”

 

[Parmandur]

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.

We are mainly talking about the possibility of a live action show because Mangianello has been specifically working towards thst for a loooookg time, publicly and openly.

 

[Morrus]

as if diversity alone is what decides whether a movie / series is good

That's all your own addition. That's not what it means or what anybody has ever said.

 

[mamba]

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.

why, you think there are no good actors that resemble Elmore’s paintings?

Also, I never said they need to be exact look-alikes, I already said that Goldmoon can be more native and that the Majeres could be hispanic, I only ruled out black and asian for the main actors (not Krynn…)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Also, I never said they need to be exact look-alikes

Then it doesn’t matter if they have a different skin tone.

why, you think there are no good actors that resemble Elmore’s paintings?

I think there are very few good actors full stop. Casting by appearance narrows the pool to not a chance.

Poor acting was one of the things that sank WoT, especially in comparison to Rosamund Pike who acted the rest of the cast off the screen. GoT succeeded because of the quality of the cast. And they weren’t selected to match the book descriptions, never mind 3rd party illustrations.

 

[mamba]

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

I am not discounting that, I already said Goldmoon and Riverwind as natives, the Majeres as hispanic. Maybe Tanis as half-asian would work, I only ruled out black and asian for the cast of the heroes. I’d still try to keep it somewhat similar to the paintings though instead of flat out ignoring them.

Ultimately a good story / script is much more important than the skin color of the actors however.