EXCLUSIVE: In one of Netflix’s biggest TV bets in the fantasy space to date, the streamer has taken in for development The Forgotten Realms, a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series, sources tell Deadline. The project comes from one of the top producers on the streamer’s roster, Shawn Levy (Stranger Things, Deadpool & Wolverine), writer-showrunner Drew Crevello (WeCrashed) and Hasbro Entertainment.
As the title suggests, the proposed series will take place in the iconic campaign setting and centerpiece of the Dungeons & Dragons universe, a fantasy world released in 1987 that has become home to some of the brand’s most famous characters and launchpad for some of D&D’s most popular adventures. The source material for the 2023 movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves comes from within the Realms setting.
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Crevello wrote the pilot and serves as showrunner; he will executive produce the potential series with Levy and Dan Levine of Levy’s 21 Laps, sources said.
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Reps for Netflix and Hasbro Entertainment declined comment.
Ever since then-Hasbro subsidiary eOne in 2021 made launching a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series a top priority, Netflix has felt like a logical home for it given the major boost the streamer has given to the classic fantasy role-playing game through its prominent presence on one of Netflix’s biggest shows, Stranger Things.
The project’s initial incarnation, overseen creatively by Red Notice filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber, with Crevello subsequently joining him as showrunner, landed at Paramount+ in early 2023 with a straight-to-series order and eOne co-producing alongside Paramount Pictures, the studio behind Honor Among Thieves.
The project ultimately didn’t move forward amid a strategy shift at Paramount+ and ownership change at eOne, which was acquired by Lionsgate.
With Hasbro’s in-house division Hasbro Entertainment now in charge, the Dungeons & Dragons adaptation underwent redevelopment with Crevello at the helm and a brand new concept not related to the past D&D development with Thurber and Paramount or the Honor Among Thieves movie.
The project drew interest from Levy, who joined it in a serendipitous team-up since he is director/executive producer on Stranger Things.
With Levy on board, The Forgotten Realms series was taken out to Netflix where 21 Laps has a deal. After lengthy negotiations, which is not unusual for an IP of that caliber, I hear the fantasy series is now set at the streamer for further development. In success, it could launch a D&D universe, I hear.
Featuring humans, elves, orcs and other fantastical creatures engaging in wars, treasure hunts and campaigns, the D&D game, one of Hasbro’s key franchise brands hailing from Wizards of the Coast, is overseen by a host, known as the Dungeon Master, and employs the signature multisided dice. More than 50 million fans have played D&D since it was first launched 49 years ago. In that time, the D&D multimedia library has come to include novels, comic books, videogames and livestream entertainment on Twitch and YouTube. The Forgotten Realms has been expanded across all of those formats, providing ample storylines and IP on which to base a series.
Levy most recently co-wrote, produced and directed Marvel’s blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine movie. He is currently working on the upcoming fifth and final season of Stranger Things.
Crevello created and executive produced the Apple limited series WeCrashed starring Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway.
50 years going on 51 they actually had a big 50th anniversary thing last year in the city it started in.
Only if Hasbro actually enforces that D&D is done right, last movie was great. Use this & go see R.A. Salvatore please for love of all that is good in this world, but you gotta stay try to the source material. The Crystal Shard trilogy would be where I would start.
Oh yes, please involve RA Salvatore. Some of the best story writing that there is out there
Do you really think Hasbro has any cluedo what they are doing?
I think this could work-if it’s done right. I’m thinking there are more scenarios they go for that are not correct, so I’m a skeptic. I’ve also been following Forgotten Realms for a long time as well, so I know there’s a LOT of source material they can choose from. I’m sure they want to get after the Drizzt story more than anything, since they’ve been trying to get Drizzt on screen for a long time without starting a race riot. But there’s so much more that I really hope they tell their stories without messing it up.
This instead of dragonlance is a MAJOR disappointment
While Dragonlance is in a lot of ways a more mature and gritty setting with lots of good time periods, characters and storylines to explore Forgotten realms is probably the better setting to try and build a sprawling universe with; It’s more well established, cosmopolitan and diverse with what writers and creators can do with it.
Seeing a series based on Kaziganthi de Orilg would be pretty pimp though.
Absolutely agree 100%, I really cannot fathom why everyone drops the ball when it comes to Dragonlance, easily the best thing D&D.
Could not agree more! Who would be your casting picks (specifically for the Majere bros.. I think they’d HAVE to get those PERFECT for it to have a chance at working)
Would also kill for a big screen adaptation of The Legend of Huma if any bigwigs are out there reading this btw
A couple decades ago, I would have said Aron Isenburg (Nog, ST:DS9) would have made for the most awesome Tasslehoff Burrfoot. I saw him in person and he not only had the right size, but also the perfect persona, for Tas.
Sadly, Aron passed away long ago.
There needs to be a live action version of the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series from the 80s. So many reboots are unnecessary but that is something that really could work since the original was so limited by what CBS would allow.