Dungeons & Dragons TV Show Ordered by Paramount+

A Dungeons & Dragons television show is officially on the way. Deadline reports that Paramount+ has ordered the long-gestating Dungeons & Dragons television series helmed by Red Notice filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber. The order is for eight episodes, with Thurber directing the first episode. The series will be a co-production between eOne and Paramount Pictures, who also worked together on the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves movie due out in March. No other details about the upcoming series has been announced, but Thurber has been working on the D&D project for almost a year. Previously, it was reported that the Dungeons & Dragons TV project and Honor Among Thieves would be set within the same universe. 

Assuming that Thurber's show is set within the same universe as Honor Among Thieves, it will likely expand on the Forgotten Realms, the iconic campaign setting home to hundreds of novels, adventures, and games. The world has a rich history filled with various locales, cultures, and characters, but is still flexible enough to allow for various creators to tell their own stories in. A TV show might be more likely to include iconic characters such as drow ranger Drizzt Do'urden or the long-lived wizard Elminster. 

Hasbro, the owner of Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast, has targeted the Dungeons & Dragons IP for massive growth. In addition to the TV and movie projects, several video games are in development, including a new Baldur's Gate 3 game due out for release later this year. In a recent investors meeting, Wizards of the Coast president Cynthia Williams stated that the Dungeons & Dragons brand was "under-monetized." Wizards itself has recently come under scrutiny as it plans changes to the Open Game License that serves as the framework for third-party publishers to make content using D&D rules.