D&D Movie/TV D&D TV Show By John Wick Creator

From Hollywood Reporter — “Derek Kolstad, the creator and writer behind the John Wick franchise, has been tapped to pen and develop a pitch for a live-action series based on the Dungeons & Dragons universe.”

‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Series in the Works With ‘John Wick’ Writer (Exclusive)

Dragons, orcs, and elves, oh my!

www.hollywoodreporter.com

The article doesn’t say anything more, unfortunately, other than describing what D&D is — “Affectionately referred to by fans as D&D, the game is known for its wars, treasure hunts, campaigns, camaraderie, and reversals of fortune, all in a setting that combines humans, elves, orcs and hundreds of other creatures. The game famously uses multisided dice in gameplay to further the imaginary story and is overseen by a host known as the Dungeon Master.”

 

[Demetrios1453]

Agree. The Conan novels are much less gratuitous than Game of Thones, or the James Bond novels, as @LuisCarlos17f mentions.

I wouldn't be surprised if they created a setting for the show, or went with Greyhawk. FR is a bit too high magic for a TV budget IMO.

The hero's journey is at the core of D&D.

I doubt we will see short races, unless played by short actors. Also, fully CGI party members (like Rocket Racoon), will be avoided for budget. Dragonborn would probably take too long in make-up. Elves are tired. I would rate a tiefling as most probable non-human party member.

Elves may be over-done, but we all know they are going to appear, likely as a main character(s). Not just because they are popular, but because the make-up will be fairly easily, even moreso that tieflings.

They could probably get away with a D&D dwarf by using someone who is stocky and just a little short.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

It is interesting that "John Wick" is in fact a pretty well known RPG creator; and 121 messages in there hasn't been one reference to him.

Sadly, I haven't had enough coffee (or bourbon) to come up with some funny play on words - but come on people!!

 

[MGibster]

Elves may be over-done, but we all know they are going to appear, likely as a main character(s). Not just because they are popular, but because the make-up will be fairly easily, even moreso that tieflings.

Heck, they were doing credible "elves" on Star Trek in the 1960s. I think almost any humanoid, including Tieflings and Dragonborn, would be relatively easy to do these days. In the 1990s Babylon 5, which didn't have a huge budget, had the Drazi in some episodes. Thanks to shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Dr. Who, makeup artist and costumers have figured out the whole human with funny foreheads thing. I think it's a bigger problem to include the small races. It might be hard to get the halfling to look right.

 

[Azzy]

I think it's a bigger problem to include the small races. It might be hard to get the halfling to look right.

And expensive. IIRC, not only did Peter Jeckson use camera tricks, but also different scale sets and props to create the illusion of the halflings' actors being smaller thant they actually are.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Heck, they were doing credible "elves" on Star Trek in the 1960s. I think almost any humanoid, including Tieflings and Dragonborn, would be relatively easy to do these days. In the 1990s Babylon 5, which didn't have a huge budget, had the Drazi in some episodes. Thanks to shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Dr. Who, makeup artist and costumers have figured out the whole human with funny foreheads thing. I think it's a bigger problem to include the small races. It might be hard to get the halfling to look right.

View attachment 131647

I was thinking if they could get an actor or actors around 5 feet tall, they might be able to fudge it, but, going by the PHB height guide, even fudging it would only work for dwarves (mountain dwarves max out at 4' 8", which isn't terribly far off). Gnomes and halflings are probably out, as they both max out at under 4 feet, unless they find an even shorter version of Peter Dinklage (who is 4' 4", and who is presumably a bit burnt out on fantasy roles). Maybe if they intentionally hire taller actors for the human/elf roles, they could sneak around this a bit, but it would still be a lot of work to get a halfling or gnome right. Then again, this is TV and we obviously shouldn't expect 100% compliance for the rules, so if they find someone in the 4' - 4' 6" range to be a halfling, we shouldn't break out the pitchforks, torches, and tape measures and just go with the flow (knowing, of course, that some people will still have absolute fits about the halfling being too tall)...

 

[HomegrownHydra]

So, am I the only one who thought "Wait, the 7th Sea guy?".

It is interesting that "John Wick" is in fact a pretty well known RPG creator; and 121 messages in there hasn't been one reference to him.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Elves may be over-done, but we all know they are going to appear, likely as a main character(s). Not just because they are popular

not with everyone.

Popular in the same way Twilight vampires are popular.

, but because the make-up will be fairly easily, even moreso that tieflings.

Have you seen The Witcher? The elves looked rubbish. In the Warcraft movie, even more rubbish. They did their best to keep them out of shot, but you saw them occasionally.

They could probably get away with a D&D dwarf by using someone who is stocky and just a little short.

They did that in Witcher too. It was also rubbish.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Elves, Tieflings, Goliaths, Half-Orcs are all fairly easy with make up and some prosthetics. Dwarves you could just do without more work if you can hire actual actors of that height, but that means going back to the ol' Dinklage/Warwick Davis well (being the two best and most experienced) and they may not want to commit to that.

Halflings and gnomes are too small to achieve without CGI or a lot of forced perspective and specialised sets.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

not with everyone.

Popular in the same way Twilight vampires are popular.

Have you seen The Witcher? The elves looked rubbish. In the Warcraft movie, even more rubbish. They did their best to keep them out of shot, but you saw them occasionally.

They did that in Witcher too. It was also rubbish.

Because of their eyes? That wouldn't be an issue for a D&D adaption. And the ears would be shorter anyway.

The witcher ones look fine. What is your specific issue with them?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Because of their eyes? That wouldn't be an issue for a D&D adaption. And the ears would be shorter anyway.

The ears - you can see the joins, and without some kind of animation, very large ears look dead (consider the ears on a dog - they move and twitch).

The witcher ones look fine. What is your specific issue with them?

Two. Face and build is too human, large ears look dead. Vulcan ears are about as big as you can go without animating them.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Halflings and gnomes are too small to achieve without CGI or a lot of forced perspective and specialised sets.

There are a few who are small enough, but Deap Roy is probably too old by now. I think he is 4'2", which is a little large, but close enough if you cast tall people in the other roles.

 

[ART!]

Heck, they were doing credible "elves" on Star Trek in the 1960s. I think almost any humanoid, including Tieflings and Dragonborn, would be relatively easy to do these days. In the 1990s Babylon 5, which didn't have a huge budget, had the Drazi in some episodes. Thanks to shows like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Dr. Who, makeup artist and costumers have figured out the whole human with funny foreheads thing. I think it's a bigger problem to include the small races. It might be hard to get the halfling to look right.

View attachment 131647

Yeah, I don't really see any of the 6'-range height races being a problem. In fact, B5 had G-Kar as a regular, for cryin' out loud. Star Trek: Discovery has Saru, and recently featured a Tiefling-like (in terms of prosthetics and make-up) Andorian.

Dragonborn, tieflings, etc. are not a problem. (I know: easy for me to say - I don't have to apply the prosthetics and make-up, or sit in the chair for 2 hours a day or more! )

Elves are just ears and maybe eyebrows - and they usually hide the prosthetic ear seams with hair. Another non-issue, if you keep the ears of a practical size.

Regarding dwarves and their height - and to a lesser degree (no pun intended) halflings and gnomes and their height: making one actor look taller than another is one of the oldest tricks in the book. They put actors on little boxes or even walkways for walking scenes all the time to make them look taller than they are. They did plenty of that kind of thing in the LOTR movies, too. Obviously it's harder the shorter the race is.

I don't think they did scaled replica sets very often in the LOTR movies - the Bag End sets, obviously, but a lot of it was forced perspective, clever camera angles and actor movement, differently-sized body doubles, and the like. I'm not saying any of it is easy, but if they decide they want a gnome main character, they know what they're getting into and it's doable. It actually would make sense to have more than one character from the shorter races, so that when they interact you don't need any (or much) trickery at all.

What I do wonder is if they would even want to include halflings, since they're so closely associated with Middle-earth because of the 6 movies (albeit mostly referred to as hobbits therein). I think that's runs the risk of some brand confusion, but I might be overthinking this.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

The ears - you can see the joins, and without some kind of animation, very large ears look dead (consider the ears on a dog - they move and twitch).


Two. Face and build is too human, large ears look dead. Vulcan ears are about as big as you can go without animating them.

"Face and build is too human". You mean like the vast majority of D&D elf art? Have a look of basically every 2nd edition depiction of elves.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

"Face and build is too human". You mean like the vast majority of D&D elf art? Have a look of basically every 2nd edition depiction of elves.

Even in 2nd edition, elves weren't broad-shouldered, big-nosed and lumpen. And more recent depictions in D&D make their facial features far more alien.

 

[ART!]

It will be interesting to see if they want to differentiate the look of their elves from, for instance, the Middle-Earth movies' elves, or if they just go with the flow there.

 

[BRayne]

Giving Deborah Ann Woll some LotR Elf sized ear prosthetics to add a bit of point to her ears and calling her the party's Elf Wizard (or whatever class) seems the way to go

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, I don't really see any of the 6'-range height races being a problem. In fact, B5 had G-Kar as a regular, for cryin' out loud. Star Trek: Discovery has Saru, and recently featured a Tiefling-like (in terms of prosthetics and make-up) Andorian.

Dragonborn, tieflings, etc. are not a problem. (I know: easy for me to say - I don't have to apply the prosthetics and make-up, or sit in the chair for 2 hours a day or more! )

Thing to notice about Saru and G'kar is their prosthesis incorporate the actors' eyes and mouth, so the character has a range of facial expressions. If they stick to dragonborn as depicted in D&D art, they would have to have a full head mask.

You could animate the mask using animatronics or cgi, but then you are making the character far more expensive.

Tieflings, on the other hand, are cheep as chips - horns are inherently inanimate!

Elves are just ears and maybe eyebrows - and they usually hide the prosthetic ear seams with hair. Another non-issue, if you keep the ears of a practical size.

Regarding dwarves and their height - and to a lesser degree (no pun intended) halflings and gnomes and their height: making one actor look taller than another is one of the oldest tricks in the book. They put actors on little boxes or even walkways for walking scenes all the time to make them look taller than they are. They did plenty of that kind of thing in the LOTR movies, too. Obviously it's harder the shorter the race is.

I don't think they did scaled replica sets very often in the LOTR movies - the Bag End sets, obviously, but a lot of it was forced perspective, clever camera angles and actor movement, differently-sized body doubles, and the like. I'm not saying any of it is easy, but if they decide they want a gnome main character, they know what they're getting into and it's doable. It actually would make sense to have more than one character from the shorter races, so that when they interact you don't need any (or much) trickery at all.

Such shots require precise set-ups and careful editing. This makes it a very slow way of shooting. That might be fine for a movie, but with the rapid turn-around schedules of TV it's something I would prefer to avoid if I was producing a TV show. It's not like it's necessary.

What I do wonder is if they would even want to include halflings, since they're so closely associated with Middle-earth because of the 6 movies (albeit mostly referred to as hobbits therein). I think that's runs the risk of some brand confusion, but I might be overthinking this.

I think they will prefer to avoid anything too closely associated with Lord of the Rings, so probably no hobbits, dwarves or elves in major roles, unless they went for radically different designs.

If you look at races not in the core rules, then orcs, goliaths, and all the Eberron races look like strong candidates.

More likely in a movie, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a small cgi character, such as a kobold or imp.

.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I think they will prefer to avoid anything too closely associated with Lord of the Rings, so probably no hobbits, dwarves or elves in major roles, unless they went for radically different designs.

I, on the other hand, think they will milk that cash cow for all it's worth - this is show biz after all. Which, since halflings are completely impractical, and dwarves fairly impractical, means we'll almost certainly have elves as important characters.

Beyond that, since it will be branded off the game, and the PHB specifically states that humans, dwarves, haflings, and elves are the "common races", that again points to having elves as important characters for the same reason.

I get that elves are seen as cliche, but, there is precisely zero chance they will purposely forgo them, or even assign them to a minor role, or even, as you say, change them radically. They are a major part of the IP, and audiences in general will expect to see stereotypical elves in a D&D product. I mean, to the uninitiated, D&D is basically "elves and all that".

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

What happens with elves will also depend on which setting is used for any movies or TV series. In some worlds, they are shorter and slimmer than humans, and in others, they are as tall or taller and still slimmer than humans. If it is set in the Realms, then the elves by default will be very similar to Tolkien elves.

 

[MGibster]

Beyond that, since it will be branded off the game, and the PHB specifically states that humans, dwarves, haflings, and elves are the "common races", that again points to having elves as important characters for the same reason.

I'm always suspicious when I hear an adaptation is veering away from the source material in bizarre ways. If they removed dwarves, halflings, and elves it would just make me wonder why the hell they bothered to call it D&D. If they can't even get the basics right then why should I invest anything in the show? So, yeah, I don't think they can remove them from the show. Why would they? It'd make me think they were embarrassed about the source material.