D&D Movie/TV Update on D&D TV Show -- Underdark, Small, 6-10 Episodes

Writer Derek Kolstad (John Wick) has shared an insight into the upcoming D&D TV show with Collider, which he says will be 6-10 serialized episodes with an Underdark element.

His approach is a "tinier sliver" of the world, compared to epic stories like Lord of the Rings. He compares it to Star Wars and Jaws. He mentioned that he's like to go "deeper and deeper into the Underdark".

"In the first Star Wars, you heard about Jabba the Hutt and you don't see him until the third one because you earn at that point, and whatever the budget was for the third one compared to the first one, who cares, right? And I think in Dungeons and Dragons, who has this massive, dedicated community of acolytes, I don't want to suddenly throw everything on screen and say, 'Here's the buffet.' You'd much rather keep the story intimate. When you think of our favorite movies, I'd rather do the First Blood version. It's a guy in the woods being hunted. And it's very small, but you allude to the other things through conversation."

As yet the show is untitled. Kolstad talked a bit about legal meetings and available characters for use. It sounds like he wants to set it towards the end of any 'metaplot' that D&D might have -- "... don't want to go in the middle of the mythos. I want to come near the end where everything is canonical, it's biblical, it's happened. Or, it's about to happen. That way you can revisit certain sequences and storylines that everyone loved in the past through flashback, but where we go is new"

 

[Azzy]

I hope they don't stick to the Forgotten Realms for the Underdark. I really like Torog. His story and him crawling about the Underdark and even pulling an entire surface city down was one of the highlights of 4e lore for me.

The likelihood of it not being set in the Forgotten Realms is vanishingly small. Sorry.

 

[TerraDave]

Boy, that is a lot of words to say "it's still early, only two episodes are written, they don't know the title yet, but it's going to be small scale initially."

I do like starting small, though. My campaign spent years focused on a small village and plenty of TV shows have even smaller scales.

So that's what he said. Good to know.

 

[Dire Bare]

The likelihood of it not being set in the Forgotten Realms is vanishingly small. Sorry.

I don't know, they might be worried about the audience being unable to pronounce anybody's names if the show's in the Realms . . . .

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think there's also a fair chance it'll be set in its own setting, depending on how much synergy WotC wants to get going with these multimedia efforts.

 

[Zardnaar]

Underdark and Realms both make sense.

Iconic and otherworldly vs filmed in Ireland/NZ

 

[R_Chance]

Small... sounds like it's being pitched for a streaming service (I haven't read the interview, have they said?). That sounds good as long as they don't bury it on one that doesn't have a broad audience. Too many new streaming services out there with a show or two and a specific back catalogue.

 

[Ogre Mage]

If it is going to be in Faerun, small and have a significant Underdark component, perhaps it will be set in the Dalelands? Many small towns to serve as home base. And Cormanthor is nearby where there are supposedly numerous entrances into the Underdark.

 

[teitan]

BUT DOES IT HAVE A BALROG

Morrus! You're gonna get the lawyers sniffing! BALOR. BAAAAAALOR.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

"Starting small" is hard-coded into D&D. That's why it has levels. It makes it more suitable to TV than films.

Using the Underdark as your main location is genius. It saves a huge amount of money. You don't need to film outdoors on location, and it's always dark, which will hide any ropey costumes and FX.

Another takeaway is that they must be using an established campaign setting, since the writer is refers to using existing lore and characters. Combined with "Underdark" it pretty much confirms it's set in the Forgotten Realms (a case could be made for Greyhawk but their isn't such a huge bank of lore to tap into).

 

[MarkB]

With the Star Wars reference, it sounds like they're gradually building a mythos through references and small details, which is a good approach. For fans, it teases for later exploration of elements they're familiar with, and for new viewers it builds up a setting organically.