Dragonlance streaming series? Authors Weis and Hickman hold out hope

If there are plans for a live-action adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons’ classic Dragonlance stories, authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman haven’t heard about it. They both hope to see Raistlin, Sturm, Brightblade and the other Companions of the Lance brought to life one day in a film or streaming series.

“Hope springs eternal, especially in Margaret and I,” said author Tracy Hickman in a recent interview with Polygon where both he and Weis discussed their upcoming novel, Dragons of FateThe film continues Dragonlance’s story to a whole new audience. “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].”

Originally created by Tracy Hickman and his wife, Laura Hickman, during a cross-country road trip, the Dragonlance setting was a hugely popular product line for D&D’s original publisher TSR in the 1980s. It featured novels of course, but also a boatload of beloved tabletop adventures — many of which are still available to purchase online.

Since years, rumors have swirled about a live action English language adaptation of Dragonlance. But things reached a boiling point earlier this summer. That’s when actor Joe Manganiello, speaking during a D&D livestreaming presentation, seemed to indicate that he was working on a live-action Dragonlance project in earnest. But while a D&D live-action series It is a good idea to use a bilingual translator headed to Paramount Plus, it apparently doesn’t have anything to do with Dragonlance.

Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped Manganiello from trying to make it happen. Hickman has even met with Manganiello recently to tour his new gaming room — which includes a one-of-a-kind model of The Inn of the Last Home, the tranquil tree-top tavern where Weis and Hickman’s original Dragonlance trilogy began.

“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,” Hickman said. “[Manganiello]Was that boy who was comforted by Solace. And now he’s come to a position where yeah, he’d like to do something about it.”

Plans for a live-action Dragonlance adaptation are no doubt complicated by a legal dispute between the authors and D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast. Weis and Hickman filed a lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast in 2020 for $10,000,000, claiming that the Seattle-based firm had breached their contract over the new Dragonlance novel series. The legal dispute ended in 2021 and the novel was published. Dragons of Fate This is a new release due in August.

Wizards’ 5th edition ruleset recently rebooted Dragonlance with three elegant volumes. However, while Wizards has reached out to Hickman for modern D&D projects in the past, no such courtesy was paid when making Dragonlance Shadow of the Dragon QueenOr its board game companion.

“They avoided us,” said Weis, simply.

“They didn’t ask for any consultation,” Hickman later clarified. “They didn’t ask if we had any ideas for them. […] They didn’t even tell us that they were going to be doing it. […] It is a vision of Dragonlance that has no connection to ours.”

Read more from our interview with Weis & Hickman on Polygon and see an exclusive extract. Dragons of Fate.