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?

 

[mamba]

Okay, if the text is inconsistent . . . why is it so important that Laurana is white rather than woodland brown?

it follows the established characters, and I already said it is not that important, it is my preference however. That has nothing to do with them being white, if they were black my preference would be that they stay that. There is an established lore, I’d merely stick with it over trying to make everything look like modern London, no matter where or when the story is supposed to take place

 

[mamba]

Hey, you were the one who mentioned the paintings.

If it doesn't matter all that much to you, why make it a point of discussion?

I am stating my preference, as far as I can tell so is everyone else. I am not expecting anyone to get all riled up over this either way

 

[mamba]

What, that the characters are fictional...?

obviously not, which leaves the other part of what you wrote, namely ‘They could cast only Japanese actors and it would as much represent the characters "identity"’

 

[Dire Bare]

it follows the established characters, and I already said it is not that important, it is my preference however. That has nothing to do with them being white, if they were black my preference would be that they stay that. There is an established lore, I’d merely stick with it over trying to make everything look like modern London, no matter where or when the story is supposed to take place

Established lore? Inconsistent established lore?

And even if it wasn't inconsistent, it if is problematic, why stick with it? Why is it so important that an adaptation change nothing about the original work? (Which of course, never happens. Adaptations ALWAYS make changes)

1980s fantasy is very white. The 2020s fantasy audience is more diverse. Why should an adaptation made in the 2020s cater to an audience from 4 decades ago?

 

[mamba]

Established lore? Inconsistent established lore?

yeah, inconsistent lore, once call woodland brown, 15 or so times call fair skinned or pale, and always depicted as pale.

Call that inconsistent if you want, but there still is very much a trend here, this is not an even distribution where we would have to guess what the intent was

And even if it wasn't inconsistent, it if is problematic, why stick with it?

is it that problematic? Is the story improved if she were played by an asian actress, or a black one?

Why is it so important that an adaptation change nothing about the original work? (Which of course, never happens. Adaptations ALWAYS make changes)

it isn’t that important, I am expecting changes, as you wrote they are unavoidable. I am stating a preference

1980s fantasy is very white. The 2020s fantasy audience is more diverse. Why should an adaptation made in the 2020s cater to an audience from 4 decades ago?

if modern audiences can only engage with stories where every location has the ethnic mix of modern day London, then that makes fiction poorer, not better. Also, the shows that have a diverse cast are not necessarily doing all that great, so I am not so sure about that correlation / need to begin with.

 

[Parmandur]

obviously not, which leaves the other part of what you wrote, namely ‘They could cast only Japanese actors and it would as much represent the characters "identity"’

The latter flows inevitably from the former, logically speaking.

 

[mamba]

The latter flows inevitably from the former, logically speaking.

If you were writing a new novel or movie script with new characters, you would be correct. You aren’t however, the books were written decades ago and the characters were established decades ago in them (and the art)

 

[Dire Bare]

Is it that problematic? Is the story improved if she were played by an asian actress, or a black one?

Yes. It is problematic. But you are missing the point.

If the single character of Laurana is portrayed as white, ignoring all else . . . is that problematic? Not necessarily. It's not the individual character, but rather the entire cast. Is the majority of the cast white? Are the main protagonists all white? That's problematic.

Insisting that an adaptation be "consistent" with established lore . . . that's problematic and unrealistic as well. Especially when that "established" lore is itself inconsistent. Especially when established lore deals with race and ethnicity in a problematic way.

Is the story improved if Laurana is portrayed by an actress of color? Not necessarily, but is it lessened? No. Does it matter then? Yes.

I have friends with similar concerns as you do, that an adaptation be "faithful" and "consistent" with the original work . . . and will sometimes refuse to see adaptations they fear stray too far. I roll my eyes at them and ignore their kvetching . . . if you can't make changes, then there is no point in making an adaptation.

And interestingly, the changes that get the most pushback are changes to a character's ethnicity, race, or gender. Hmmmm.

If and when we get a live action Dragonlance . . . if Laurana is white, okay. If Laurana is a elf of color, okay. But if the overall cast is super white, or otherwise problematically cast, I won't be watching. And with today's fantasy audience, I won't be alone. WotC and their partners would be wise to ignore fans who insist that character ethnicity and gender remain "consistent" with the inconsistent established lore . . .

 

[Parmandur]

If you were writing a new novel or movie script with new characters, you would be correct. You aren’t however, the books were written decades ago and the characters were established decades ago in them (and the art)

They are made up, not real, so there is no inherent identity to them.

 

[Teemu]

If we're going canonical, Ansalon is tiny, like half the size of Europe. If there is no to little diversity of looks and ethnicities in how you depict a mostly human location on the continent, you're ignoring the canonical events (migrations) and scope of the land. If adherence to established canon is important, you have to keep in mind the size of the place and how fast people can move.

In essence, if a random human town doesn't look like modern London, you're purposefully omitting canon.