Hugh Grant has joined the cast of the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons movie, along with It star Sophia Lillis. On Tuesday, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Grant and Lillis had joined the cast of the adaptation, and the crew behind it is slowly taking shape. Grant will reportedly play the movie’s main villain.
Dungeons and Dragons is a beloved tabletop role-playing game published by Wizards of the Coast, and it has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years thanks to TTRPG podcasts and web shows. Now, it will see an even bigger leap with a feature film adaptation at Paramount Pictures. The movie has an all-star cast including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith and Regé-Jean Page. Adding Grant and Lillis to the mix only ups the ante.
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The movie will reportedly be directed by the duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who notably directed Game Night a few years ago. Plot details are still jealously guarded, by the report did reveal that Grant’s antagonistic character is named Forge Fletcher, while Lillis’ new character is named Doric.
Beyond that, the content of the movie is wide open since any kind of narrative can play out in the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons, from grand epics to urban heists to quaint comedies, and beyond. The game is typically set in a familiar high fantasy world, reminiscent of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth from Lord of the Rings. It allows players to create their own character and then participate in cooperative storytelling with their group through improvisation.
D&D — or, “DnD” as it is sometimes spelled — has evolved over the years, with five distinct editions since Wizards first began publishing it in 1974. Earlier versions were dense and esoteric, while later games tried to be more user-friendly. Recent editions in the last few decades focused heavily on combat and rules-based mechanics, but the current 5th edition is more flexible.
While many DnD games are completely or partially original creations by the players, Wizards of the Coast sells pre-written adventures, giving both the Dungeon Master and the players a structure to follow. Some fans are speculating that the movie’s plot may be based on one of these modules, though that might make the module less appealing for players down the road.
Production on the Dungeons and Dragons movie is not yet underway, and it is not clear when it will begin. So far, the movie does not have a tentative release date.
