D&D Movie/TV D&D movie and series not in the same universe

[Baron Opal II]

It's also proof that an Eberron show wouldn't necessarily be seen as a D&D show, and Shadow & Bone is succeeding in large part because it's an incredibly popular YA with a huge under-30 audience who actively made huge efforts to make it succeed, as well as having a showrunner who is extremely invested in the property but not precious about it (a rare commodity).

I agree, but what do you mean "not precious about it?"

 

[Stormonu]

The less linked, the better. Show the diversity of the D&D worlds and how they differ. If the shows start showing D&D as some monolithic ubersetting, it could have a backlash of people (and designers) wanting only that world and cutting off the creativity D&D is best known for.

Its already bad enough that everything is Forgotten Realms as it is.

 

[Steel_Wind]

If it was Dragonlance, there is an absolutely 0% chance that Hickman and Weis wouldn't be telling literally everyone, now that the existence of the show has been announced. So I think we can rule out Dragonlance from that. Either they'd be sulking about how they "had no input", or extremely excited to be involved. Even if they weren't allowed to name the show directly there'd be something, because both of them are extremely loud about this kind of thing.

Assuming (without deciding) that you are correct that neither Weis nor Hickman find it easy to shut up about DL to others when they have some stone in their shoe about it -- and further, that their particular predilection is well known to WotC and the hobby, generally, -- this is why if you are WotC you don't tell Weis and Hickman anything at this stage.

It's not like they have a right to know; they clearly don't. The property is WotC's, it isn't theirs in any way, shape, or form.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Could be Eberron's big war maybe.

We'd never be so lucky (dubiously; it would suck to have an Eberron show drop while I'm boycotting). It's going to be one of the same old things they've flogged for 30+ years.

DL, Drizzit, Mordenkaenin and his bros, the best one can hope if DS, which at least hasn't been run into the ground.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I agree, but what do you mean "not precious about it?"

In that he's willing to make big changes that make sense for the story as a TV show, and not to try and slavishly recreate the original story. Like, if he was sticking with the original structure of the novels, we'd have had 3 seasons of what would be, for the first two seasons at least, basically a re-enactment of Twilight in a fantasy setting. I don't that would have been survivable for the show. Indeed, even reading-wise, if I'd read Shadow & Bone first, I'd probably never have read any of the other books. Luckily someone told me about Six of Crows (I sadly forget who, now), and that's just an absolute banger.

The reason I note that particularly is that showrunners who are "fans" of the original material are often kind of precious about it, so you're lucky if you can get one who both loves the material and isn't precious.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

It's not like they have a right to know; they clearly don't. The property is WotC's, it isn't theirs in any way, shape, or form.

It's not as simple as that, legally and tactically, I'd suggest. WotC definitely own the rights, but not in an unencumbered way. There's some sort of fiddly agreement with Hickman and Weis, which SEEMS to include them being notified about stuff. Also tactically, it'd be dumb as hell to get in a situation where the people famous for writing the thing you were adapting were angry about that thing. Especially if you're trying to pick up fans of the books, who whilst aging, are certainly numbered in the millions.