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A live-action Dungeons & Dragons series is headed to Paramount Plus.
According to Deadline, the streaming platform has ordered eight episodes of a new series from Red Notice helmer Rawson Marshall Thurber. Thurber has written the pilot and will direct the first episode.
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy tabletop roleplay game that first debuted in 1974, originally designed and developed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The players create their own characters, and interact with elements and characters of the game's universe by way of problem-solving and battles. The game has seen a resurgence in popularity due in part to the global phenomenon that is Stranger Things, which uses the game as a self-referential plot device.
There are orcs, evil wizards, vampires, dragons, knights, and the players are allowed to come up with virtually any plot or storyline they choose – and many of the major decisions a player makes are completely improvised. A game that allows its players to make up virtually whatever they want is a pretty great canvas for a TV show or film.
Paramount is also co-producing the feature-length movie Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, which is slated for a March 31, 2023 release. Directed by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley, the film sees Chris Pine, Sophia Lillis, Rege-Jean Page, Michelle Rodriguez, and Hugh Grant embark on an epic adventure to retrieve a lost relic. It's likely that the TV series will follow a different storyline with different characters.
Thurber wrote, directed, and produced Netflix's Red Notice, which currently holds the record for the streamer's most-watched original movie of all time and has sequels on the way. The filmmaker is also behind the forthcoming Amazon Prime live-action feature-length adaptation of Voltron, a classic animated series centered on a team of space explorers.
For more, check out our list of the best new TV shows coming in 2023 and beyond, or, the best Dungeons and Dragons books overall.
