Dungeons & Dragons fantasy world, The Forgotten Realms, is coming to Netflix, it has been announced. The show will be developed by Deadpool & Wolverine director and Stranger Things producer Shawn Levy, alongside The Grudge 2 co-producer Drew Crevello. The latter was previously attached to Warner Brothers’s cancelled Dragon Riders of Pern project.

Hasbro will be heavily involved in development. We do not yet know if Ed Greenwood, the creator of The Forgotten Realms setting, will be involved. The Forgotten Realms is D&D’s most famous setting; it’s where the Dungeon & Dragons Honor Among Thieves is set, as well as the current home of Eric, Presto, Bobby, Sheila, Diana and Hank from the classic 80’s Dungeons and Dragons cartoon.

The worlds of D&D are no strangers to TV. Back in 2023, Hasbro commissioned a load of D&D-related daytime-style TV shows, including a cooking show called “Heroes Feast”, a comedy improv show starring Matthew Lillard called “Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!” and an actual play, Critical Role style show called “Encounter Party”. These all were well received by fans but were mostly lost in the scheduling shuffle. The studio responsible (eOne) has since been sold to Lionsgate, and these very obviously Hasbro-branded shows were relegated to streaming service Plex.

The new D&D show, however, appears to be intended as a high-budget affair, capitalising on the wealth of Dungeons and Dragons’ back story that has been developed over the game’s fifty-year history.  

The Forgotten Realms is stuffed with high adventure, angry gods, and even magical schools, as well as some fantastic villains such as Vecna and the Spider Queen. Coupled with Netflix’s dedication to short runs of shows, this could be a great way to have lots of separate D&D adventures in one place, all on the TV screen. Time will tell.