Following the sale of eOne to Lionsgate in December 2023, the project will now be led by Hasbro's own division Hasbro Entertainment and will undergo a creative update before being pushed out to other potential buyers, both production partners and platforms, the sources said.
The changes include a new creative team. The version, which was sold to Paramount+, was from creator Rawson Marshall Thurber, who wrote the script for the pilot and would direct the first episode. He was then joined by Drew Crevello, who came on board as executive producer and showrunner in April 2023.
Hasbro, which retains all rights to the underlying material, remains committed to getting a live-action Dungeons & Dragons series off the ground as part of a broader universe that also includes the 2023 feature film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and the currently playing Broadway Dungeons & Dragons show The Twenty-Sided Tavern.
Featuring humans, elves, orcs and other fantastical creatures engaged in wars, treasure hunts and campaigns, the D&D game, one of Hasbro's flagship Wizards of the Coast franchise brands, is led by a host known as the Dungeon Master and uses it has the characteristic multi-sided dice. More than 50 million fans have played D&D since it first launched 49 years ago, including video games and livestream entertainment on Twitch and YouTube.
Like Hasbro's entertainment business, Paramount is also in transition, with multiple potential buyers revolving around the company built around the 102-year-old film studio of the same name.
