The upcoming film adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons seems to be moving along: Deadline reports that the project has brought on Paddington 2’s Hugh Grant and IT‘s Sophia Lillis to star in the fantasy film, with the former reportedly playing the film’s villain.
D&D has enjoyed newfound popularity in recent years, thanks to a new rule system and high profile appearances in shows like Community and Stranger Things, not to mention the explosion in gaming podcasts like Critical Role. Hasbro, the company that owns the underlying IP, has been working to bring its various properties to animation, film, and television, including G.I. Joe, Transformers, Magic: The Gathering, and D&D.
Notably, D&D has been adapted for film before: A widely-panned film debuted in 2000, and there have been two additional sequels, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath of the Dragon God, and Dungeons & Dragons 3: The Book of Vile Darkness in 2011 and 2012, neither of which were well received by fans and critics.
Paramount announced back in 2017 that it was working on a D&D film, with Spider-Man: Homecoming and Game Night directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis set to direct. The project was originally slated for a 2021 release, but has since been bumped back to May 27th, 2022.
Casting has already been underway for the project, with Chris Pine (Star Trek), Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar) and Justice Smith (Detective Pikachu) joining the film. There’s no word on what the story will be about—or what Grant and Lillis’s specific roles will be—other than that it’ll be a “subversive approach to the game.”
And this isn’t the only project in the works for the property—John Wick writer and creator Derek Kolstad is currently working on a television series.
