Dungeons & Dragons Casts Hugh Grant as Lead Villain

Hugh Grant will appear in next year's Dungeons & Dragons movie as the main villain. Deadline reports that the charismatic British actor and star of HBO's The Undoing and Paddington 2 will appear in Paramount and eOne's Dungeons & Dragons movie alongside It and It: Chapter Two star Sophia Lillis. Details about Grant and Lillis's roles were not fully disclosed, although Deadline reports that Grant will play the movie's villain. The pair join a star-studded cast that includes Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Detective Pikachu star Justice Smith, and Bridgerton star Rege-Jean Page. Hypothetically, Pine, Rodriguez, Smith, Page, and Lillis could play the roles of a traditional D&D adventuring party, which consists of 4-5 adventurers.

Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley are set to direct the new Dungeons & Dragons film, which is based on the hit tabletop roleplaying game. Details about the film are scarce, although an earlier script indicated that the movie would involve a group of adventurers seeking out the dreaded Eye of Vecna, a famed artifact in D&D lore.

Dungeons & Dragons has existed for over 40 years and has had a resurgence in popularity thanks to its easy to understand Fifth Edition rules and numerous tie-ins with pop culture properties like Stranger Things. The game, which was one of the first big tabletop roleplaying games and helped to define that genre, experienced its strongest year in 2020. The game conveniently also has a deep well of untapped IP consisting of well-developed lore and characters from multiple worlds. These characters have starred in novels and other tie-in games, but exist as secondary characters in the world and stories of the games played in the table. Hasbro is working on multiple D&D projects, including a live-action TV show being developed by John Wick creator Derek Kolstad.

Several animated projects featuring completed D&D campaigns, such as those seen on Critical Role and The Adventure Zone, are also in the work.

A Dungeons & Dragons movie was originally released in 2000 starring Jeremy Irons, Justin Whalin, and Marlon Wayans, and received almost universally negative reviews. Two additional movies had either limited or home releases, before stalling out in 2012. Various studios took aim at revitalizing the franchise after the game's popularity increased before the project finally entered into more serious talks in late 2019. The movie's release date was pushed back due to COVID-19, with the movie now set to debut on May 27, 2022.