Netflix Developing DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: RAVENLOFT Series From Alfonso Cuarón and John August as FORGOTTEN REALMS Project is Scrapped
Netflix is heading into one of the darkest corners of the Dungeons & Dragons universe with a new live-action series based on Ravenloft, the fan-favorite gothic-horror setting packed with vampires, dark magic, doomed romance, and some seriously nasty supernatural threats.
The project comes from John August and executive producer Alfonso Cuarón, and it sounds like Netflix is leaning hard into the horror side of D&D.
At the center of the story will be Strahd von Zarovich, the infamous vampire Darklord whose fall from tragic figure to monster has made him one of the franchise’s most recognizable villains.
The official description offers a pretty clear idea of what August and Cuarón are cooking up. It’s described as a “prestige fantasy series where adventure collides with gothic horror and tragic romance, Ravenloft and its Domains of Dread redefine adventure through character-driven stories of dark magic and supernatural intrigue.
“At the heart of the series, Ravenloft follows the making of the vampire Darklord Strahd von Zarovich, whose story of power, love, obsession, and undead transformation charts his origins from tragic antihero to one of Dungeons & Dragons’ most notorious villains.”
That sounds like an interesting and fun direction for a live-action D&D series. Ravenloft gives Netflix an opportunity to build something moodier and more horror-driven around Strahd’s transformation.
The series is being developed with Hasbro-owned D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast. August and Cuarón will executive produce alongside Gabriel Marano for Hasbro, Richard Schwartz, and Gaby Rodriguez for Esperanto Filmoj.
Ravenloft has been part of Dungeons & Dragons since 1983, when Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman introduced the setting. It went on to become one of D&D’s most-played worlds and has expanded far beyond its tabletop origins through novels, RPG modules, video games, companion rulebooks, and other material.
Wizards of the Coast recently returned to the setting with Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, an expanded and updated reimagining of the original storyline, so the timing certainly works for bringing Strahd and the Domains of Dread into live-action.
The news also comes with the end of another Netflix D&D project. The streamer has scrapped its planned Forgotten Realms live-action series with Shawn Levy, which would have drawn from the enormous fantasy setting that has accumulated thousands of years of fictional history across hundreds of tabletop books.
While I was looking forward to that, Ravenloft could be a much more interesting choice for television. The gothic-horror setting could be cool.
If Netflix gets the atmosphere, horror, characters, and Strahd right, Ravenloft could make for a great Dungeons & Dragons series.
Source: Variety