‘John Wick’ Creator Tapped for ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Live-Action TV Series

Kristen Lopez
·2 min read
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It feels like the development of a television show or movie based on the popular board game “Dungeons & Dragons” has been in development since time immemorial. Now, we might be one step closer. Derek Kolstad, the man behind the Keanu Reeves-starring “John Wick” franchise has been tapped to write and develop a pitch for a live-action TV series based on the game. Kolstad is said to be one of many writers being courted to work within the universe.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is a separate entity from the feature film which Paramount and eOne, the film division of game owners Hasbro, already have in the casting stages and announced with Chris Pine in the lead. It’s unclear whether this would be a companion series to the filmed feature, with the same cast, or if this would be a totally separate entity.

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Created in 1974, “Dungeons & Dragons,” referred to as D&D by its fans, is an expansive tabletop role-playing game filled with wars, treasure, and more in a mythical land filled with humans, elves, and numerous other creatures. The game’s rules are complex, involving a many-sided die, and getting involved in the game can be time-consuming. Interestingly, social media has been filled since the pandemic started with people asking about how they can get into the game.

This would be the first time a television show around “Dungeons & Dragons” has been developed, but there has been an attempt to place the game on the big-screen. In 2000, New Line Cinema released the film “Dungeons & Dragons,” starring Jeremy Irons, Marlon Wayans, and Thora Birch. The film was a commercial and critical failure at the time, though has developed a bit of a cult following.

Since that time attempts to do a more serious incarnation of the game has been in development. Back in 2014 Warner Bros. attempted to get a film off the ground starring Ansel Elgort, fresh off the success of “The Fault In Our Stars.” Before him, Vin Diesel was attempting to make a D&D feature. Numerous screenwriters have been said to have taken stabs at a script, including “Aquaman” scribe David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick, and John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.

There’s no current release date on either of these projects.

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