According to IGN, Dungeons & Dragons continues its quest into mainstream media. Netflix has just announced a new television series based on the D&D campaign Ravenloft. The series will recount the beginnings of the vampire count Darklord Strahd von Zarovich, as he journeys from his origins to the villain of Ravenloft. The new series has been announced just after Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, an expansion pack that is part of Dungeons & Dragons’ Season of Horror event.
Netflix describes the source material as “prestige fantasy series where adventure collides with gothic horror and tragic romance.” The description continues, “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,” per IGN.
John August (Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) screenwriter and host of the scipnotes podcasts creates the series. Executive producers include Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Children Of Men), Richard Schwartz (Severance, Woke) , Gaby Rodriguez (Gravity, Roma) from Esperanto Filmoj’s, and Gabriel Marano (Baldur’s Gate, Clue) from Hasbro.
The Darklord of Ravenloft takes inspiration from Bram Stoker’s iconic progenitor of vampires, Dracula. Strahd von Zarovich is a middle-age’s warlord who sacrifices his brother to dark powers to gain immortality. Part of the deal also involved marrying his brother’s wife, but unlike some modern retellings of Dracula, they are neither love-lorn nor star-crossed. The dark lord’s love is very much unrequited, as his bride to be cast herself off a cliff to her demise to avoid the marriage.
On the film side, Paramount recently passed on Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves sequel. The movie, directed by John Francis Daley (Waiting, Spideman: Homecoming) and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses, Spiderman: Homecoming), has garnered a cult following after lackluster box office results. The directors would still like to continue the project, hoping their newfound fanbase can drive alternative studios’ interest in a sequel.