‘Dungeons & Dragons’ TV series hires A-list director

An indie studio belonging to eOne has secured a deal with ‘Red Notice’ director Rawson Marshall Thurber to lead the live-action adaptation of Hasbro’s iconic ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ board game. According to Deadline, Thurber is set to write and direct the pilot episode of the proposed TV series and executive-produce the series, acting as the lead creative director of the project.

Since being acquired by Hasbro, eOne has been focusing on adapting the ‘D&D’ franchise into a multitude of avenues. “We don’t want it to just be one show, so we are building out, developing out a multi-pronged approach for television, a number of scripted shows and unscripted, and we hope to be taking this out to the marketplace early next year,” said eOne’s president of Global Television Michael Lombardo, in a November interview with Deadline.

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The announcement comes as Paramount, in partnership with eOne, has reportedly finished shooting an upcoming live-action ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ full-length feature film, starring Chris Pine and written and directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. The film is slated to premiere in March 2023.

It is anticipated that the flagship TV series, which is expected to become the cornerstone of the ‘D&D’ TV universe, could potentially be picked up by Netflix, given the network’s proclivity for including references to ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ in shows like ‘Stranger Things,’ as well as Thurber’s existing ties with the streamer.

Thurber acted as the writer, director and producer of Netflix’s ‘Red Notice,’ which became the most watched film of all time on the platform. The resounding success of the film, which starred Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynlolds and Gal Gadot, has Netflix reportedly working on two sequels.

The ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ franchise has been one of the most iconic IPs throughout the past several decades. Introduced some 46 years ago, it has since attracted over 50 million fans around the world. Over the years, the original tabletop role-playing game has seen numerous spin-off versions, video-game adaptations, novels, several films (albeit unsuccessful ones) and an animated TV series in the 80s.