Actor Joe Manganiello, known for his role as Alcide Herveaux in True Blood and Deathstroke in Justice League, confirmed a live-action Dragonlance adaptation is no longer in the works at Wizards of the Coast.
Joe Manganiello speaking at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Manganiello teased he was working on developing a live-action Dragonlance project in March 2023 during the Dungeons & Dragons 2023 Announcement Showcase.
He said at the time, “Ultimately, it was my love of Dragonlance that opened the door for my involvement with the brand, working tirelessly to develop a live-action version of the Dragonlance novels that have never been far from my thoughts throughout all these years since I first read them.”
Creators Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman shared with Polygon their hopes that the Manganiello’s plans for Dragonlance would come to fruition. Hickman said, “Hope springs eternal, especially in Margaret and I.”
He added, “We have always believed that Dragonlance would be a wonderful setting in many different media, and we’ve always thought it would make a wonderful film [or streaming series].”
Hickman also shared, “Margaret and I have always said there there was somebody out there, some child who has read the books and fallen in love with them, and that they would grow up one day. [Manganiello] was that boy who found solace in Solace. And now he’s come to a position where yeah, he’d like to do something about it.”
Dragons of Winter Night (2000), Wizards of the Coast
Unfortunately, Manganiello and Hickman’s hopes have been dashed by Wizards of the Coast. Manganiello informed ComicBook.com, “Dragonlance is not a property [Wizards in the Coast] are interested in developing further, currently.”
As for what his plans were, he shared, “What I had planned for the first season was mind blowing. I just….I want to make [the Dragonlance show] because I want to see it and I just want to feel that excited and electric about something. The characters…like the casting, I have a look book with over 1,000 pages, but it’s not what you expect. The design concepts I had for the world, for the armor, for the swords….I had a fresh take on what the dragons were going to look like, it was going to be nothing like anyone has ever seen. And these beloved characters that have been read by…I think Tracy said there’s 35 million copies in circulation.”
Dragons of Spring Dawning (1999), Wizards of the Coast
Manganiello also revealed the script was well received, “The biggest fantasy literary agent in town, he said and these are his words and not mine, that it was the best fantasy pilot he had read since the original Game of Thrones.”
“There was another executive that read it and said it was one of the best fantasy scripts he’s ever read. I actually got an email just this morning from a producer who said it was awesome and that he wanted to send it to the rest of his company and hopes I develop another fantasy IP,” he relayed.
Dragons of Summer Flame (2002), Wizards of the Coast
Not only did Wizards of the Coast scrap the project, but they also did not allow Manganiello to buy the rights to Dragonlance. He explained, “I offered to buy Dragonlance. I was talking to people with money just to get it and separate it so that I could get the option and take it out on the town.”
While the project is dead at Wizards of the Coast, Manganiello hopes he will be able to do his adaptation sometime in the future, “Maybe somewhere down the line, someone comes back or the company switches hands and somebody sees the value.”
Test of the Twins (2001), Wizards of the Coast
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