While everyone was busy arguing what the next “Game of Thrones” might be, the answer seems to have been under our noses all along — “Dungeons & Dragons.” We already knew that a feature film based on the insanely popular fantasy tabletop role-playing game was in the works, but now “John Wick” creator and writer Derek Kolstad has been tapped to write a potential series based on the “Dungeons & Dragons” franchise.
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, even as Paramount and Hasbro’s film studio, eOne, are casting their live-action film about dragons and dungeons, eOne also tapped Kolstad to pen and develop a pitch for a potential live-action show based on “Dungeons & Dragons.” Note that this is a pitch, so things are very early on in the development process, and nowhere near a confirmation that we’ll get a show anytime soon. The report also notes that “multiple writers” are working on developing “various projects set in the fantasy universe,” meaning it is very likely that eOne is planning a whole cinematic universe based on the D&D franchise, and even if Kolstad’s show doesn’t get greenlit, we could get another one down the line.
Even if you’ve never played “Dungeons & Dragons,” you probably have seen at least one depiction of it in a movie or show, like “Stranger Things” In short, it’s a vast and infinite fantasy world that wouldn’t immediately make for an easy adaptation. We already got one horrible film adaptation in 2000, so it’s easy to be skeptical.
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The problem with “Dungeons & Dragons” is that its appeal is in players creating their own world and stories, rather than following one established story. At the same time, there is a ton of lore and history to the multiverse of the game, so a potential TV show could simply take bits and pieces and tell its own standalone story.