Rawson Marshall Thurber To Spearhead Flagship ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ TV Series For eOne

Nellie Andreeva
·3 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: eOne’s ambitious plans for a Dungeons & Dragons TV universe are starting to take shape with an A-list hire.

The indie studio has closed a deal with Red Notice filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber to creatively oversee a flagship live-action television series based on Hasbro’s wildly popular fantasy role-playing game franchise from Wizards of the Coast. Thurber will write and direct the pilot script as well as executive produce the hourlong project, which has been garnering interest from multiple buyers.

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Adapting Dungeons & Dragons for television has been “a big focus” for eOne following the company’s acquisition by Hasbro, eOne’s President of Global Television Michael Lombardo told Deadline in November.

“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,” he said back then.

The flagship live-action series, shepherded by Thurber, is expected to serve as a cornerstone of the TV universe as it continues to expand.

Given Netflix’s existing ties with Thurber via the hit Red Notice movie and with Dungeons & Dragons via the hit TV series Stranger Things, the streamer is likely to pursue the Dungeons & Dragons TV series (and related offshoots), with other networks and streamers also interested, sources said.

Thurber is the writer, producer and director of Red Notice, starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, which became Netflix’s most watched film of all time. He is expected to return, along with Johnson, Reynolds and Gadot, for two sequels now in the works at Netflix.

The D&D TV universe will complement eOne’s film franchise. Production on eOne’s untitled feature, jointly produced and financed with Paramount, recently wrapped. eOne will distribute in the UK and Canada, and Paramount in the rest of world.

Featuring humans, elves, orcs and other fantastical creatures engaging in wars, treasure hunts and campaigns, the D&D game is overseen by a host, known as the Dungeon Master, and employs a signature multisided dice. More than 50 million fans have played D&D since it was first 46 years ago, including videogames and livestream entertainment on Twitch and YouTube.

Adapting the hugely popular game for television had been a sought-after assignment, with a number of high-profile writers offering their take on the material as part of the process.

Thurber who grew up at the height of D&D’s popularity in the 1980s — as depicted in Stranger Things — also wrote and directed Central Intelligence, directed We’re the Millers, and wrote and directed Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. In TV, he previously created, directed and executive producer Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes Crimes On Television. He is repped by WME, and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.

UPDATE: Thurber reacted to the news on Twitter, sharing his experience playing D&D growing up. “Boyhood dreams do come true, ya’ll,” he wrote.

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