Just as the popular tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons has taken inspiration from the movies, there has been some movement on adapting the famed property into a new incarnation for the modern age. With Game Night directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein both writing and helming this latest cinematic quest into the role-playing world, it was only a matter of time until the casting process yielded its first results. Now, it looks like the project has found its first potential star. Alas, it's not longtime Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast Joe Manganiello, as instead, Wonder Woman 1984 star Chris Pine is ready to trade his flight suit for some chain mail.
Per reporting from Deadline, Chris Pine is in the circling phase of his potential Dungeons & Dragons hiring. The plans, should they follow the intended course, are to have this movie in front of cameras early next year; with Belfast looking to be the location that the production will make its home. Pine will more than likely not be only the first big name drawn to the project, as it’s expected that an ensemble cast will help land this would-be franchise on the road to the kingdom of sequels. Considering how much Joe Manganiello loves Dungeons & Dragons, there's always the chance he could be cast in the movie later down the line.
This latest Dungeons & Dragons project comes after a history of starts and stops that have seen the legendary gaming brand run through several iterations of development. That includes a draft co-written by Joe Mangianello, which fell into the dustbin of history, as that particular flavor of script was probably more serious about the Dungeons & Dragons property. The tone in John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s project is being hinted as “a subversive approach to the game.” So think something less like the 2000 New Line Cinema film starring Jeremy Irons, and potentially more like something from the minds that helped shape Horrible Bosses.
John Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have been hard at work revising the script of Dungeons & Dragons throughout this year. So naturally, real life circumstances have influenced the final draft of the film that’s about to go into production, which may or may not have lost some massive crowd scenes originally intended. It looks like this could indicate another great advantage in Chris Pine’s potential casting, as he’s used to interacting with aliens, potential invisible jets and anything else the world of cinematic imagination can throw his way.
Dungeons & Dragons hopes to roll a 20, as it wants to get underway with production in the first quarter of next year. But if the DM known as Fate casts “Development Hellscape” upon this project, CinemaBlend will be there to do what any good Bard would do: absorb the splash damage and live to tell the tale. In the meantime, you can see what’s already scheduled for the year ahead, courtesy of our 2021 release schedule. We promise there are no dragons, orcs or wizards waiting inside to challenge you and your party upon reading.
