Talk about a Dungeons and Dragons double whammy!
Right now, Paramount and Hasbro’s movie studio, eOne, are recruiting the cast for a Dungeons & Dragons movie – which will star Captain Kirk himself, Chris Pine…
The double whammy comes because, at the same time, Hasbro’s eOne is laying the groundwork for a fantasy role-playing TV series too.
Talk about happy days for DnD fans:
(Fingers crossed).
CHECK OUT: The 5 Most Anticipated Fantasy TV Shows Coming In 2021.
Dungeons And Dragons, And John Wick
Derek Kolstad, the creator, and writer behind the “John Wick” franchise has been chosen to write and develop the live-action series based on the Dungeons & Dragons universe:
(And yes, we couldn’t be more excited).
Derek Kolstad is not alone in writing for DnD, because eOne is now working with multiple writers to develop various projects set in this historic fantasy universe:
(Could Dungeons and Dragons offer the scale to challenge Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series, or be remembered like HBO’s Game of Thrones?)
Kolstad helped launch the “John Wick” action franchise: he wrote the original script. He also worked on the sequels “John Wick: Chapter 2” and “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum”.
(He’s also one of the writers on Marvel’s TV series “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier”).
CHECK OUT: The 5 Most Anticipated Fantasy Movies Coming In 2021.
What Do We Know So Far?
Sadly, very little:
We do not have a release date, nor the potential streaming platform on which the TV show would be released:
However it’s likely for CBS All Access – which will be called Paramount+ in the future.
We’re even too early to theorize who else will be part of the creative team, leading the development or starring…
We don’t even know if it will have enough of a budget to do the franchise justice – we can only hope considering the movies in franchises past.
What About The Movie?
The movie project “Dungeons & Dragons” is already underway, but we don’t know if it is inspired by the board game or the classic 80s cartoon.
The protagonist is likely to be Chris Pine (Star Trek), who is the first addition to the cast.
We do know that Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley are the screenwriters and directors of the movie.
(For those curious, they’re best known for their work on the “Spider-Man: Homecoming” script).
Outside of that, it really is a blank canvas.
CHECK OUT: The 3 Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Novels Coming Soon.
What We’re Hoping For?
With very little information, we’re just left hoping both projects are better than the past Dungeons and Dragons rubbish:
To this day, Dungeons and Dragons on the big screen instantly makes me think of Jeremy Irons in the terrible year 2000 movie.
To be blunt, the history of this franchise when it comes to movies is bad. And as Amazon is splashing the cash on “The Lord of the Rings”, anything in comparison might look a little cheap on the small screen.
However, our hope above all others is that they take it seriously, rather than a parody. We want both projects to embrace DnD, with subtle nods to fans.
We do not know any release date at the moment, it is still too early. We’re hopeful of a 2022 release, but this could be 2023 or beyond.