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?

 

[Scribe]

Are you aware that Peter Jackson’s trilogy aren’t the first movie adaptations of Tolkien’s works?

Yep.

I don’t think any adaptation needs to keep the real-world religious stuff in Dragonlance. I think the series would be improved if it avoided it.

A fair opinion. Noted.

Why is changing a few ethnicities "subversive" to you?

The characters are what they are. What they have been, with representation decades in the making. What reason is there to change them if not to disrupt a story that is established?

"Well well well, White, mostly Male, and straight? That wont work now will it."

Whats the problem?

Black Panther is imo the best Marvel movie made. They didnt need to make Cap a Black Woman when they made the Avengers movies.

 

[Azzy]

Yep.



A fair opinion. Noted.



The characters are what they are. What they have been, with representation decades in the making. What reason is there to change them if not to disrupt a story that is established?

"Well well well, White, mostly Male, and straight? That wont work now will it."

Whats the problem?

Black Panther is imo the best Marvel movie made. They didnt need to make Cap a Black Woman when they made the Avengers movies.

Look. When those books were written, the assumed audience was overwhelmingly mostly white boys. But the audience for fantasy has changed over the years and is far more diverse than it once was. People like to see themselves in stories and if we want stories from the past to remain relevant, those stories need to adapt to reflect the current audience. Hence why we get a french knight, Lancelot, in a story of the Matters of Britain. Most depictions of Biblical stories in movies are with an overwhelmingly white cast (despite taking place in the Levant and surrounding regions. None of the Dragonlance characters' ethnicities are important to the story (national origin and species is far more important).

 

[Scribe]

People like to see themselves in stories and if we want stories from the past to remain relevant, those stories need to adapt to reflect the current audience.

Nope. The story itself is actually pretty timeless, it doesnt need to change, and neither do the characters.

You can want it to change, I can want it to say as it is. No harm no foul. I'd say go find your thing to enjoy and leave me my thing to enjoy.

 

[TwoSix]

Two actors, both equally good actors.

One, matches the descriptions and depictions of the character as presented for decades. The other, hell lets go all out, is even cast from the opposite sex because why not right? I think thats how it works these days.

Who do you give the role to?

The second one, of course.

 

[Azzy]

Nope. The story itself is actually pretty timeless, it doesnt need to change, and neither do the characters.

That's your opinion. But if a story wants to have an audience after its initial creation, it has to adapt—just like all stories since the beginning of storytelling.

You can want it to change, I can want it to say as it is. No harm no foul. I'd say go find your thing to enjoy and leave me my thing to enjoy.

You can want it to stay the same, but anytime a story is retold and adapted, there will be change. That just the nature of things. If making the cast of Dragonlance multi-ethnic draws in a bigger audience, so be it. After all, it's the story that's important, not the ethnicity of the characters.

 

[Scribe]

That's your opinion. But if a story wants to have an audience after its initial creation, it has to adapt—just like all stories since the beginning of storytelling.

No it doesn't.

After all, it's the story that's important, not the ethnicity of the characters.

Cool, no change required.

 

[pukunui]

I'd say go find your thing to enjoy and leave me my thing to enjoy.

Making a more diverse DL show that appeals to modern audiences does not take away "your thing" (the original books). Whether the existence of such a thing detracts from your enjoyment of that thing is entirely on you.

I dislike the changes Apple has made to Foundation enough that I have no interest in watching their version of it. However, I'm not railing against Apple for making the series. I recently reread the books myself, and I enjoyed them as much as I ever have. If Apple's series gets more people to read the original books, so much the better!*


*My older sister would be proud. She made the same argument to me when I was a teen arguing about how awful Disney was for making historically inaccurate movies like Pocahontas.

 

[Azzy]

No it doesn't.

History disagrees.

Cool, no change required.

Nor are there requirements to keep the original ethnicities.

 

[Scribe]

Making a more diverse DL show that appeals to modern audiences does not take away "your thing" (the original books)

Sure it is, because its changing my thing (the DL story) and denying me the show with those actual characters I grew up with.

Its not like they would make both!

If you want the modern DL, Wizards released that with that adventure book.

I'll also note, that Chronicles was on shelves as recently as a few years ago at least. Obviously its no longer the peak of paperback TSR Dragonlance era, but that trilogy never went out of style, and was pretty much always available for decades on end.

Unchanged.

 

[pukunui]

Sure it is, because its changing my thing (the DL story) and denying me the show with those actual characters I grew up with.

You're acting like your books would get magically rewritten to match the new version when you know perfectly well that won't happen. As I just said, the existence of the abomination that is Apple's Foundation TV series doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the original books. I can still enjoy that story while ignoring Apple's version of it. If I can do that, I'm sure you could manage to do the same with Dragonlance.

No one's denying you a show with the characters you grew up with ... you've already got that! Well, a movie anyway ...