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?

 

[Teemu]

By that metric Django and Inglourious Bastards failed.

Yes exactly, those movies and other similar properties do receive this particular criticism. But in the case of Dragonlance, it's much worse because the Qualinesti and the Silvanesti are much more aspirational than the villains of those two movies. The white elves are on the side of the Good people, they're beautiful and skilled and knowledgeable and just "better" than the others.

Also, for folks wanting Dragonlance to be mature. When was the last time you read the books? I reread them just recently. They're decidedly Young Adult fiction. These books are fun action fantasy popcorn literature. They're not mature as in something only adults would find meaningful because younger folks would find it boring. On the opposite, the books are enjoyable for adults when taken as light and childlike entertainment.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They're decidedly Young Adult fiction.

Yeah, one of the things I would credit Dragonlance for is pretty much creating YA as a marketable genre.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Yes exactly, those movies and other similar properties do receive this particular criticism. But in the case of Dragonlance, it's much worse because the Qualinesti and the Silvanesti are much more aspirational than the villains of those two movies. The white elves are on the side of the Good people, they're beautiful and skilled and knowledgeable and just "better" than the others.

My point was that trying to safeguard against memes is a terrible metric.
What people remember from the all-white cast of Lord of the Rings are not the memes - so I do think this white-elves dark-elves supposed dilemma is storm in a tea-cup nonsense which would generate a few rage-baiting click-baiting articles by pretty pathetic journalists who would get a lot of unnecessary oxygen from a minor but loud portion of the community.

Also, for folks wanting Dragonlance to be mature. When was the last time you read the books? I reread them just recently. They're decidedly Young Adult fiction. These books are fun action fantasy popcorn literature. They're not mature as in something only adults would find meaningful because younger folks would find it boring. On the opposite, the books are enjoyable for adults when taken as light and childlike entertainment.

If I'm being honest there is no real global demand for a live-action Dragonlance. It is a dead equus ferus IMO.
Warcraft failed financially, a movie I quite liked (and I do not play Warcraft online)
The D&D movie failed financially, a movie I did not enjoy.
I'm baffled that anyone thought a Dragonlance movie will be anything but a failure.

It is no Lord of the Rings, and as you said the material is not mature.
That is why upthread I said I fancy them exploring the time before the Cataclysm as that material can be quite mature (and relevant).

Dragonlance stands a better chance as an animated TV series on the vain of Arcane, Blue-Eyed Samurai and Castlevania.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If I'm being honest there is no real global demand for a live-action Dragonlance. It is a dead fish IMO.

Yup, Mangeniello is never going to be able to get the funding, especially given how expensive the draconians would be. We will see a Del Toro Mountains of Madness first. It's all an auteur's pipe dream.

Warcraft failed, a movie I quite liked

This one certainly suffered by trying to make a live action film look like a deliberately cartoonish video game.

It stands a better chance as an animated TV series on the vain of Arcane, Blue-Eyed Samurai and Castlevania.

Yup, this is both realistic and potentially good.

 

[Teemu]

My point was that trying to safeguard against memes is a terrible metric.
What people remember from the all-white cast of Lord of the Rings are not the memes - so I do think this white-elves dark-elves supposed dilemma is storm in a tea-cup nonsense which would generate a few rage-baiting click-baiting articles by pretty pathetic journalists who would get a lot of unnecessary oxygen from a minor but loud portion of the community.


If I'm being honest there is no real global demand for a live-action Dragonlance. It is a dead equus ferus IMO.
Warcraft failed financially, a movie I quite liked (and I do not play Warcraft online)
The D&D movie failed financially, a movie I did not enjoy.
I'm baffled that anyone thought a Dragonlance movie will be anything but a failure.

It is no Lord of the Rings, and as you said the material is not mature.
That is why upthread I said I fancy them exploring the time before the Cataclysm as that material can be quite mature (and relevant).

Dragonlance stands a better chance as an animated TV series on the vain of Arcane, Blue-Eyed Samurai and Castlevania.

There's a marked difference between Lord of the Rings protagonists fighting dark skinned orcs vs white elven protagonist faction enslaving another semi-protagonist faction of brown elves. Qualinesti and Silvanesti elves build cities, they are smart and intelligent and advanced and they worship the gods of good. They're super people. The Kagonesti are brown, they don't build cities, they live in forests, they have body markings, and they for example don't really practice the Art of wizard book magic, unlike the Qualinesti and the Silvanesti.

Then the Qualinesti and Silvanesti force the Kagonesti into servitude and even want to "civilize" them. That whole dynamic is rife with real world injustice and wrongdoing that is not comparable to fighting evil monsters. It's not about memes. It's about sending an inviting message to racists who will use the behavior of the Qualinesti and the Silvanesti as exemplary and aspirational. You're going to attract people who actually want to do similar things in real life and they will use your show as an example of how things should be done.

It's a really bad idea.

 

[AnotherGuy]

There's a marked difference between Lord of the Rings protagonists fighting dark skinned orcs vs white elven protagonist faction enslaving another semi-protagonist faction of brown elves. Qualinesti and Silvanesti elves build cities, they are smart and intelligent and advanced and they worship the gods of good. They're super people. The Kagonesti are brown, they don't build cities, they live in forests, they have body markings, and they for example don't really practice the Art of wizard book magic, unlike the Qualinesti and the Silvanesti.

Then the Qualinesti and Silvanesti force the Kagonesti into servitude and even want to "civilize" them. That whole dynamic is rife with real world injustice and wrongdoing that is not comparable to fighting evil monsters. It's not about memes. It's about sending an inviting message to racists who will use the behavior of the Qualinesti and the Silvanesti as exemplary and aspirational. You're going to attract people who actually want to do similar things in real life and they will use your show as an example of how things should be done.

It's a really bad idea.

First, I never made the comparison between Orcs of LotR and the Kagonesti - I was referring to the heroes.
Second, I do not agree with your assessment of Qualinesti and Silvanesti elves as being auto-good.
Third, I have not read the Elf War trilogies or enough Dragonlance to see how the authors (not other elves) paint the Kagonesti because that is a big part of it.
Fourth, why are we focussing on the Kagonesti enslavement? I'm not sure why we are focussing on this part of Dragonlance history. Are you thinking this could be the main storyline or concerned for it as background material for the movie/tv show?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The goal with Dragonlance is to create new readers and earn, or recover, brand power.

Be good doesn't mean to be perfect.

* Other point, and almost off-topic, but Dragonlance is known better thant the teleserie.. and there is new facfiction, should Hasbro promote this? It would be like free advertising. Hasbro wouldn't earn money automatically with the fan fiction but the characters would become more famous and this would mean to sell more merchandising products like Risk-Dragonlance.

* I don't name Kagonesti because it sounds like a word from Spanish languange... linked to toilets, to be said softly.

 

[Scribe]

Second, I do not agree with your assessment of Qualinesti and Silvanesti elves as being auto-good.

They are not. None of the peoples are at the time, its a core aspect of the story. Everyone had turned away from the Gods and Good. Mountain Dwarves also did this.

Fourth, why are we focussing on the Kagonesti enslavement?

Its a weird thing, its a minor point of the story, but you know how it goes online I guess.

In fact, issue resolved.