Here’s what the Dungeons & Dragons directors would do in a sequel

With Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves in theaters and in the Critical Role animated series The Legend of Vox Machina fresh out of its second season, it feels like D&D is having a particularly mainstream moment on screen. Is this just the beginning of a larger D&D movie series? Is honor among thieves Heading for a sequel, a movie series, or a bunch of spin-offs? Polygon asked writers and directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein what form they would like future D&D stories to take.

“I think stop motion,” says Daley without hesitation. “Rankin/Bass stylea total relapse.”

Daley means it as a joke. But it’s not the worst idea given the recent micro-boom of stop-motion animation: A New Netflix Movie by nightmare before christmas Director Henry Selick and Guillermo del Toro’s extremely dark, Oscar-nominated version Pinocchio both arrived late last year and there will be a new one in 2023 chicken race Sequel and two new Wes Anderson movies to come allegedly contain stop motion. Any form of animation could be a good approach to the rich fantasy worlds of Dungeons & Dragons. But Daley and Goldstein aren’t really thinking about the next steps just yet.

Is Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves getting a sequel?

“When we came on board with this film, it was never our intention to do a franchise,” says Daley. “I think that would affect our ability to fully focus on the film at hand. The cardinal mistake many studios make is to put the cart before the horse where they start creating a cinematic universe before they even make a good standalone film. So the most important thing for us was to get it right.”

It’s a refreshing attitude in a world where studios keep forgetting to start small and organically build fandom, rather than trying to kickstart a 10-year mega-blockbuster schedule with every new film. That is, with honor among thieves Of course, the directors think about where they want to see these characters go next.

Goldstein says if they had carte blanche to do anything with the D&D world, they’d probably stay with whatever party they establish themselves in honor among thievesStarring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, and Sophia Lillis as an adventurous crew who make some personal connections throughout the story.

“The good thing about a sequel is that you don’t have to spend a lot of screen time introducing it [the party],” he says. “The audience knows them, and you can get into the story quicker. And obviously we have a lot of affection for both the actors and the roles they play. But we want to introduce some new characters along the way, and certainly many new monsters.”

“And new locations,” adds Daley.

“Yeah, you know, we did the Forgotten Realms for this film in part because it’s kind of a recognizable medieval setting,” says Goldstein. “But there are so many worlds within D&D that we could explore.”

“Now that we’ve got it done and we’re relying on the fates to decide if this thing is going to be a success, we’d absolutely love to keep telling stories in this world,” says Daley. “We think it’s absolutely ripe with potential.”

What would Honor Among Thieves 2 look like?

Part of that potential, Daley says, is a core element of Dungeons & Dragons that doesn’t show up in her film: “I think if we were lucky enough to do another one like this, we’d love to see our characters level up.” In honor among thieves, Pine’s bard character Edgin never uses magic (for reasons the directors explained to us for our larger look at the film’s choices), but Daley thinks he’d likely add spells to his repertoire in a sequel. “That would be exciting to see,” he says.

Goldstein says that when the two men were planning the film – which lists them as co-writers alongside collaborator Michael Gilio with a story by Gilio and Chris McKay – they asked Wizards of the Coast for “a list of their top 30 fan favorites.” Creatures” to give them ideas. “And then we had the freedom to choose what to show.”

This explains honor among thieves‘ Use of an Owlbear, a Predation Beast, and a Mimic, among other creatures from previous D&D lore. But it leaves them a lot to talk about in future stories.

When is Drizzt getting a D&D movie?

And then there’s one of the biggest questions in Dungeons & Dragons screen story fandom: When is fan-favorite character Drizzt Do’urden getting his own movie or TV show? Could he show up in one? honor among thieves Sequel or Spinoff?

“Drizzt actually came up when we were thinking about what our first film would be,” says Daley. “But the general consensus was not to go there yet. Despite that, he’s definitely a popular character around the world and one that could be exciting to explore.”

“How about a movie where Drizzt meets the characters from the ’80s?” asks Goldstein, referring to the 1980’s Saturday morning cartoon characters appearing in one of the maze sequences honor among thievesThe geekiest references.

“And the characters from the ’80s are terribly mutilated after their experience in the maze?” Dalley laughs.

That seems even more unlikely than a stop motion D&D movie. But for Daley, part of the fun of a D&D story is this imaginative play with the possibilities of WOTC traits. “There are so many characters in this world,” he says. “It would be really fun to either have them join the group we started or do some sort of spin-off of our film to delve into their backstories.”