D&D Movie/TV Joe Manganiello: Dragonlance TV Show No Longer In Development

Actor Joe Manganiello has confirmed that the anticipated Dragonlance TV show that he had been working on is no longer being developed. In an interview with ComicBook.com. According to Manganiello, following poor sales of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen and the Warriors of Krynn board game last year, "Dragonlance is not a property [WotC] are interested in developing further currently". This decision was also prompted by Hasbro's sale of its media studio, eOne.

In March last year, Manganiello confirmed during an official D&D video update that he was working on a TV show for WotC, and a D&D live action series was greenly by Paramount in January. It's not clear if these are the same property.

Manganiello also talked about his approach to the property, and the new designs he had for the world, the dragons, and even the casting. "I want to make [the show] because I want to see it and I just want to feel that excited and electric about something. The characters...like the casting, I have a look book with over 1,000 pages, but it's not what you expect. The design concepts I had for the world, for the armor, for the swords....I had a fresh take on what the dragons were going to look like, it was going to be nothing like anyone has ever seen."

He has been working on a script for years, and was told by TV executives that his pilot was one of the best fantasy scripts they had ever read. He even offered to buy Dragonlance from WotC.

You can watch the whole interview at the link above.

 

[Incenjucar]

Who are they?

Faust: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, DC Super Hero Girls
Genndy: Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack, Primal, etc.

 

[Zardnaar]

Faust: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, DC Super Hero Girls
Genndy: Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack, Primal, etc.

Seen 0 of any of that.

 

[Incenjucar]

Seen 0 of any of that.

That's actually impressive. MLP:FiM is a reality-warping franchise, and Genndy is an award factory.

Genndy also did the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon. I assume you know Star Wars.

 

[Zardnaar]

That's actually impressive. MLP:FiM is a reality-warping franchise, and Genndy is an award factory.

Genndy also did the Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon. I assume you know Star Wars.

Yes I've watched clone wars. I'm bad with names though. Good with faces. I can recognize people on the street haven't seen for 20-30 years.

Names in credits 0 attention.

 

[bedir than]

Other point is maybe Paramount is not in its best economic moment. It is not only Warner or Disney but a serious crisis in all Hollywood. Maybe Manganiello's work was right, but it arrived in the wrong time.

And here we can tell our opinion, but a different thing is knowing how to produce an adaptation.

Yeah. I could definitely see Paramount saying that don't want to launch new partner-driven projects until after Ellison v. Allen new ownership situation is settled.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Zardoz turned 50 just a few days ago and I am bitterly disappointed at the lack of commemoration.

I actually saw a post on Facebook about the anniversary, amazingly.

 

[Incenjucar]

Yes I've watched clone wars. I'm bad with names though. Good with faces. I can recognize people on the street haven't seen for 20-30 years.

Names in credits 0 attention.

Basically, they're two of the biggest people in serial animation and are very toy-friendly. There wouldn't be a My Little Pony RPG if not for Faust.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

I doubt it was the performance of the module or the board game that killed the project as much as the D&D movie last year. If it had pulled in an audience closer to Guardians of the Galaxy 3 rather than being virtually tied with The Marvels in the year end box office, you can be virtually guaranteed that the show would have been fast tracked immediately after the writers and actors strikes.

It wasn't that the movie was a failure as such. It is just going to be the thing that a studio executive is probably going to most closely look at when deciding if a D&D TV show is viable vs the things Joe cited even if the movie does at some point get a lower budget sequel with an eye to streaming.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Really WotC should be aiming for a Lauren Faust or Genndy Tartakovsky D&D cartoon right now.

Ooh, those are very good calls.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I doubt it was the performance of the module or the board game that killed the project as much as the D&D movie last year. If it had pulled in an audience closer to Guardians of the Galaxy 3 rather than being virtually tied with The Marvels in the year end box office, you can be virtually guaranteed that the show would have been fast tracked immediately after the writers and actors strikes.

It wasn't that the movie was a failure as such. It is just going to be the thing that a studio executive is probably going to most closely look at when deciding if a D&D TV show is viable vs the things Joe cited even if the movie does at some point get a lower budget sequel with an eye to streaming.

Definitely another data point that they looked at.