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?

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I do not have an issue with a recast of Goldmoon...in the same way I love Corlys Velaryon in House of Dragon.

I was referring to Kender. Are you saying Kleptomaniacs Anonymous have found Kender offensive to them and that we need to listen?

I see we were probably talking past each other.

Anyone with working eyes and a functional knowledge of the English language who has had the misfortune to read the dragonlance books would be offended by the kender, so they should be ejected from the canon for that reason. Rather than being discriminatory, they're just poorly written.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I may agree I would rather to imagine the dragons with the visual style of 3rd age.

Who will be the producer, Netflix or Disney? I confess I feel a lot of curiosity about how would be the female characters from Dragonlance (Goldmoon, Laurana, Kita, Kitiara, Silvara..) with a Disney artistic design. You can't blame us if we suspect Disney is implied because Mickey Mouse appeared in that shirt.

Would they dare for a Dragonlance-Disney crossover? or a Dragonlance-Marvel crossover. Maybe they dared to sell action figures of a Dragonlance-Star Wars mash-up.

The cartoon movie had got its flaws but I liked that retro style.

 

[el-remmen]

If Wheel of Time could not make it work

What a way to find out a show I liked was cancelled.

 

[bedir than]

Wasn't Manganiello also supposed to take over the kickstarted, but now 12 years delayed, D&D documentary as well?
Whatever became of that?

It's massively delayed. He and his brother are the current leads, as announced by WotC. It was supposed to be part of the 50th Anniversary celebration.
I haven't found any public reason why it went from nearly ready in 2023 to whatever you want to call this current state of near abandonment.

 

[Umbran]

I love how people champion for 3 feet tall halflings to be able to have 20 Strength because fantasy

Deciding for other people why the are okay with something (as in, "because fantasy") is rude, and apt to be incorrect. And annoying.

In reality, chimpanzee muscle fibers are notably more powerful than human, and chimps regularly outperform humans in pulling and jumping. That a smaller frame can be as strong as a larger one isn't really a stretch of fantasy, when it is an observable reality.

So, how about you don't tell me why I am okay with something, like, ever. Thanks.

 

[Senior_WotC_Janitor]

I guess there is no bad blood over the lawsuit about the new books a few years back?

Biz iz biz

 

[AnotherGuy]

Deciding for other people why the are okay with something (as in, "because fantasy") is rude, and apt to be incorrect. And annoying.
So, how about you don't tell me why I am okay with something, like, ever. Thanks.

Noted, apologies and fair enough.

In reality, chimpanzee muscle fibers are notably more powerful than human, and chimps regularly outperform humans in pulling and jumping. That a smaller frame can be as strong as a larger one isn't really a stretch of fantasy, when it is an observable reality.

I'm not going to drag this out further than this post but Kender arms and Chimpanzee arms (despite the similarities in main body frame) are wildly different IMO.

 

[Senior_WotC_Janitor]

not sure Wheel of Time failed due to its budget. Rings of Power certainly didn’t. There is more that determines success than the budget

Rings of Power didn't fail at all. Thanks for playing.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Well . . . if they include the "Lost Chronicles" and other disparate elements of the story. If the script writers start with the original trilogy, add the Lost Chronicles trilogy, add in elements from the original game modules, and other bits and pieces added on over the decades . . . the "Dragonlance Chronicles" becomes a much larger story!

Although yeah, still not Wheel of Time order of magnitude . . . unless we're thinking on the franchise level with the hundreds of Dragonlance sequels and prequels published!!!

They could expand the story massively, as Dragonlance did so much backfilling of the story as it progressed. But I think that would be a huge mistake. Even beyond the contradictory plot elements, it's just too much.

Best bet is to worry about each Chronicles book at a time. Do one a season. There's so much more that could be told, but that at least would tell a complete story.

 

[mamba]

Rings of Power didn't fail at all. Thanks for playing.

sure it failed, bad reviews, drastically reduced viewer numbers. It hasn’t been cancelled but that is not the same as not failing