Dungeons & Dragons TV Show Writer Teases Underdark Setting

The upcoming Dungeons & Dragons television show could be going to the Underdark. John Wick creator John Kolstad spoke to Collider last week about his work on an upcoming television project set within the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Most of the interview was spent discussing Kolstad’s love of Dungeons & Dragons or his approach on the show, but he did provide one tantalizing hint about a potential setting for the show. When asked about the relationship between his show and the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons movie, Kolstad provided few details, but he stated that he hoped that the movie would succeed. “You want everything to succeed because that’s only good for the franchise as a whole… if it’s this massive spectacle at a quarter billion dollars that does well, great, because I want my show to exist in a little, little subset shadow of it and go deeper and deeper into the Underdark.”

The Underdark, of course, is an iconic part of Dungeons & Dragons, a vast subterranean system of caverns where all sorts of dreadful monsters live. While Kolstad was likely just using a bit of D&D lore to explain his take on the show, many fans (and news sites) are wondering if he was providing a clue about what part of Dungeons & Dragons his upcoming show might explore. The Underdark is one of the grittier regions that adventurers can explore in Dungeons & Dragons and certainly would provide viewers with an alternative to the more traditional high fantasy tropes many would expect out of D&D. Basically, the Underdark would be the perfect setting if Kolstad (and series producer eOne) wanted to show off the full depth of storytelling possible in Dungeons & Dragons.

Kolstad also discussed his approach to the show, which will focus more on intimate character-driven storytelling, rather than big, expansive epics. “”In the first Star Wars, you heard about Jabba the Hutt,” Kolstad said. “You don’t see him until the third one because at that point, and whatever the budget was for the third one compared to the first one, who cares, right? And I think in Dungeons & Dragons, who has this massive, dedicated community of acolytes, I don’t want to suddenly throw everything on screen and say, ‘Here’s the buffet.’ You’d much rather keep the story intimate. When you think of our favorite movies, I’d rather do the First Blood version. It’s a guy in the woods being hunted.”

eOne previously stated that it planned to release a Dungeons & Dragons TV show shortly after the release of the upcoming movie, which will be released in summer 2022.