Margaret Weis, who with Tracy Hickman is answerable for the loved Dragonlance Chronicles sequence of Dungeons & Dragons novels, has showed to Polygon {that a} secretive undertaking to create a streaming tv sequence set on this planet of Krynn is not going to transfer ahead. The scoop broke Wendesday at ComicBook.com, and incorporated an emotional interview with its champion, actor Joe Manganiello (True Blood, Justice League).
“The entirety came about precisely as he stated,” Weis stated in an e-mail. “The rumor is floating round {that a} pilot used to be in reality filmed. That didn’t occur and Joe doesn’t say that it came about. The undertaking by no means were given that a ways.”
Rumors of a live-action English-language adaptation of the Dragonlance atmosphere have circulated for years now, however issues got here to a head early 2023. That’s when Manganiello, talking right through a D&D livestream presentation, gave the impression to point out that he used to be operating on a Dragonlance TV undertaking in earnest. On Wednesday he showed to ComicBook.com that the undertaking used to be actual, and that it wasn’t shifting ahead following the sale through Hasbro of its eOne leisure arm to Lionsgate. That’s a transfer that Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks were telegraphing to the corporate’s traders for years.
“Tracy and Margaret have been all about it,” Manganiello stated of the undertaking, which had a finished script for a pilot episode. The actor, obviously in mourning, stated there used to be a 1,000-page lookbook created that includes ideas for fingers and armor, in addition to distinctive takes at the franchise’s iconic dragons.
“I [even] presented to shop for Dragonlance [from Hasbro],” Manganiello stated.
Along with the sale of eOne, Manganiello issues to the lackluster efficiency of closing yr’s Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen journey module. Following a fractious prison struggle over a brand new sequence of Dragonlance novels, neither Hickman nor Weis have been invited to take part in its advent. Manganiello, obviously pissed off, additionally stated that the module used to be weighed down through what he calls a “failed” board recreation, Dragonlance: Warriors of Krynn, designed through Rob Daviau (Possibility Legacy, Pandemic Legacy) and Stephen Baker (HeroQuest, Struggle Masters).
Remaining we heard, Paramount Plus used to be stated to be operating on a D&D streaming sequence with eOne. It’s now not recognized to have had anything else to do with Dragonlance. Enthusiasts nonetheless have some thrilling new content material at the horizon, then again: Dragons of Eternity, the 3rd quantity within the Dragonlance Destinies sequence through Hickman and Weis, is due out on Aug. 6. Pre-orders are to be had now, together with at Amazon. You’ll learn excerpts of the trilogy’s first two novels, Dragons of Deceit and Dragons of Future, on Polygon — along in-depth interviews with the authors.
