Here’s what the Dungeons & Dragons movie directors will do in the sequel

With Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in the cinema and Important role‘s animated series Legend of Vox Machina just launched its second season, it feels like on-screen D&D is having a particularly pivotal moment. Is this just the beginning of a larger D&D screen franchise? To be Honesty among lies Heading for a sequel, a feature film or a series of spin-offs? Polygon asks writer-director John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein What form do they want to see future D&D stories in?

“I think it’s a stop-motion movie,” Daley said without hesitation. “Rankin/Bass Stylea complete return.

Daley meant it as a joke. But it’s not the worst idea, given the recent micro-boom of stop-motion animation: A new Netflix movie from Nightmare before Christmas Directed by Henry Selick and by Guillermo del Toro extremely dark, nominated for an Oscar Pinocchio both arrived late last year and 2023 will see a new twist running chicken Wes Anderson sequels and two new movies will reports include stop motion. Any form of animation can be a good approach to the rich fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons. But Daley and Goldstein haven’t really thought about the next steps yet.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will have a sequel?

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“We never intended to be in this movie to do the franchise,” Daley said. “I think that would cloud our ability to fully focus on the film. The fundamental mistake many studios make is putting the cart before the horse, where they start creating a cinematic universe before they even make a good movie. So the first and foremost thing for us is to do it right.”

It’s a refreshing attitude in a world where studios don’t forget to start small and build an organic fandom, instead of trying to kick off a 10-year mega-blockbuster plan with every new movie. That said, with Honesty among lies out, of course the directors are thinking about where they want these characters to go next.

Goldstein says that if they had the freedom to do anything with the world of D&D, they would probably stick with the party they founded. Honesty among lies: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, and Sophia Lillis as an adventure crew who forge a number of personal relationships throughout the story.

“The beauty of the sequel is that you don’t have to spend a lot of screen time to introduce [the party],” he said. “The audience knows them, and you can jump into the plot faster. And obviously, we have a great deal of love for both the actors and the roles they take on. But they do. I want to introduce some new characters along the way, and certainly a lot of new monsters.”

“And new locations,” adds Daley.

“Yes, you know, we did Forgotten Realms for this movie, in part because it was such a recognizable medieval setting,” Goldstein said. “But there are so many worlds in D&D that we can explore.”

“Now that we’ve finished it and we’re relying on fate to decide if this will work, we really want to continue telling stories in this world,” Daley said. “We think it’s perfectly ripe with potential.”

What will Honor Among Thieves 2 look like?

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Part of that potential is that a core element of Dungeons & Dragons doesn’t appear in their movie, says Daley: “I think if we’re lucky enough to do one of these, we’ll want to see our characters. I level up. .” IN Honesty among liesThe character Edgin in Pine’s bard never used magic (for reasons of directors explain it to us so we can get a broader view of the movie options), but Daley thinks that in the sequel, he’ll likely add spells to his repertoire. “It’s going to be an interesting sort of thing to watch,” he said.

Goldstein said that when the two men were planning the film — listing them as co-writers with collaborator Michael Gilio, with a story by Gilio and Chris McKay — they asked Wizards of the Coast about ” list of the 30 most popular fan movies. creatures” to give them ideas. “And then we have the freedom to choose what we should present.”

That explains Honesty among lies‘ use an owla displacer beast, and an imitator, among other creatures from previous D&D lore. But it leaves them with a lot to tell in future stories.

When will Drizzt have a D&D movie?

Image: Magician of the coast

And then there’s one of the fandom’s biggest questions about Dungeons & Dragons screen stories: When? fan favorite character Drizzt Do’urden Get your own movie or TV show? He may appear in a Honesty among lies sequel or spinoff?

“Actually, Drizzt showed up when we were envisioning what our first movie was going to be like,” Daley said. “But the general consensus is not there yet. That said, he’s definitely a world-famous figure and one that can be interesting to explore.

“What about a movie where Drizzt meets ’80s characters?” Goldstein asked, referring to Saturday morning cartoon characters from the 1980s who appeared in a maze sequence in one of the Honesty among lies‘ reference geekiest.

“And the ’80s characters are horribly disabled after their experience in the maze?” Daley laughed.

That seems even less likely than a stop-motion D&D movie. But for Daley, this kind of imaginative play with the possibilities of WOTC properties is an interesting part of the D&D story. “There are so many characters in this world,” he said. “It would be really interesting if they joined the team that we formed, or made a part of our film, to learn about their back stories.”