D&D Movie/TV Joe Manganiello: Dragonlance TV Show No Longer In Development

Actor Joe Manganiello has confirmed that the anticipated Dragonlance TV show that he had been working on is no longer being developed. In an interview with ComicBook.com. According to Manganiello, following poor sales of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and the Warriors of Krynn board game last year, "Dragonlance is not a property [WotC] are interested in developing further currently". This decision was also prompted by Hasbro's sale of its media studio, eOne.

In March last year, Manganiello confirmed during an official D&D video update that he was working on a TV show for WotC, and a D&D live action series was greenly by Paramount in January. It's not clear if these are the same property.

Manganiello also talked about his approach to the property, and the new designs he had for the world, the dragons, and even the casting. "I want to make [the show] because I want to see it and I just want to feel that excited and electric about something. The characters...like the casting, I have a look book with over 1,000 pages, but it's not what you expect. The design concepts I had for the world, for the armor, for the swords....I had a fresh take on what the dragons were going to look like, it was going to be nothing like anyone has ever seen."

He has been working on a script for years, and was told by TV executives that his pilot was one of the best fantasy scripts they had ever read. He even offered to buy Dragonlance from WotC.

You can watch the whole interview at the link above.

 

[Nebulous]

Poor sales of a boardgame shouldn't have such an negative impact on a fully fleshed out world from a well known Hollywood personality with built-in affiliation with your brand and name recognition. Feels like the execs here shot themselves in the foot. Again. I get why they have jittery nerves, but if every executive was right we wouldn't have shows such as Stranger Things and other "risky" endeavors that no one else wanted.

 

[bedir than]

Another significant reason why Hasbro is partnering with the other two+ showrunners on their D&D series (there's no one announced for the BG3 concept yet) is because they've actually been producers/directors/writers before.

Joe has not.

So he's asking for a fantasy series with a massive budget and his qualifications are "I'm passionate." They aren't "I've been involved off-stage in these dozen successful properties already."

First timers don't get the 9-figure budget needed for this on their first pitch.

 

[Rystefn]

They were commenting on you literally complaining that no one would stop and argue with you over it. As in, no one was taking the bait. Which, notwithstanding one comment from them and now one from me, seems to be universally the case.

LoL... there is absolutely no context in which "Huh, this is kind of funny" can be read as a complaint.

I mean if other writters haven't tried to create their own epic fantasy saga with the same style of Dragonlance, there is some reason.

Other writers absolutely have. Fantasy sagas in the style of DragonLance are a dime a dozen, and have been pretty much continuously since the 70s. You can't throw a rock in the sci-ci/fantasy section of a bookstore without hitting two or three fantasy sagas more or less in the style of DragonLance. It's been like that for as long as bookstores have had sci-fi/fantasy sections.

 

[Rystefn]

This is the opinion of someone invested in fantasy fiction.

At a TV studio, where they don't give a crap about such things, "generic fantasy" means "scrappy band travels overland (through an East European country posing as Fantasyland) accompanied by a wizard, on a quest." Amazon has two of those and neither of them is a big hit. Disney+ cancelled theirs. Dragonlance, as much as this obviously pains some people (including certain Magic Mike cast members), is essentially the same thing.

"Yes, but this one has a knight with a droopy mustache" isn't going to meaningfully differentiate Dragonlance for a TV studio from three flops or near-flops.

Absolute nonsense. At a TV studio where they don't give a crap about such things "generic fantasy" means Game of Thrones.

Literally no one is arguing here that DragonLance isn't generic fantasy, but it's absolutely laughable that someone is trying to argue that GoT isn't.

 

[Oofta]

Another significant reason why Hasbro is partnering with the other two+ showrunners on their D&D series (there's no one announced for the BG3 concept yet) is because they've actually been producers/directors/writers before.

Joe has not.

So he's asking for a fantasy series with a massive budget and his qualifications are "I'm passionate." They aren't "I've been involved off-stage in these dozen successful properties already."

First timers don't get the 9-figure budget needed for this on their first pitch.

In addition, people telling him it's an amazing script is pretty meaningless. People say what others want to hear all the time.

 

[Clint_L]

perhaps I long for a finale that would have had big bad Vecna and Manganiello's edge lord character Arkhan; one can dream.

Pretty sure you're going to get that, given how successful the series has been. Except Vecna will continue to be called "The Whispered One." I'll be interested to see whether or not Arkhan appears; Manganiello is friends with the CR guys, but that character showing up was a little bit inside baseball and not necessary for the core plot. Epic, though.

 

[Incenjucar]

Absolute nonsense. At a TV studio where they don't give a crap about such things "generic fantasy" means Game of Thrones.

Literally no one is arguing here that DragonLance isn't generic fantasy, but it's absolutely laughable that someone is trying to argue that GoT isn't.

GoT distinguishes itself from generic fantasy by its focus on killing "main" characters and generally focusing on being gross.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Of course several writters want their works to be so popular as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson or Game of Thrones, but only a small number have could to become "multimedia franchise".

There are several fantasy sagas with enough success, and even you can find their fandom wikis, but when I say "Dragonlance style" I mean a several group of heroes, not only the main character, or the main couple, and the "sidekicks".

And usually after the main villain to be defeated and the secrets to be uncovered those fantasy realms become "quite places". They aren't good places to tell sequels.

Maybe there is a saturation of titles of all genres caused by the streaming services. Because it is not only several studios producing a lot of new series, and usually they are cancelled very soon, but also the productions from previous decades, and also from other countries, for example the K-Dramas or the Turkish soap-operas.

Other suspect is after some possible event linked with Vecna the D&D multiverse is going to be rebooted again, and settings as Dragonlance are going to be rewritten or retconnected for a more flexible gameplay (allowing more PC species and classes, for example).

* Any other suggestion? To start from zero a new IP mixing elements from Dragonlance and Dark Sun. Why not to try a "pilot episode" to see the reaction?

 

[Zardnaar]

Absolute nonsense. At a TV studio where they don't give a crap about such things "generic fantasy" means Game of Thrones.

Literally no one is arguing here that DragonLance isn't generic fantasy, but it's absolutely laughable that someone is trying to argue that GoT isn't.

GoT subverts a lot of fantasy tropes executed well.

Dragonlance is a dime a dozen executed at best average being generous .

 

[Jahydin]

I just want them to finish the cartoon that was started...