Dungeons & Dragons TV Series Just Announced an A-list Director

eOne’s ambitious plans for a Dungeons & Dragons TV universe are starting to take shape with an A-list hire, Deadline reports.

The indie studio has closed a deal with Red Notice filmmaker Rawson Marshall Thurber to creatively oversee a flagship live-action television series based on Hasbro’s wildly popular fantasy role-playing game franchise originally designed by Gary Gygax and published by TSR. Since 1997, the classic game has been published by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro.  Thurber will write and direct the pilot script as well as executive produce the hourlong project, which has been garnering interest from multiple buyers.

Adapting Dungeons & Dragons for television has been “a big focus” for eOne following the company’s acquisition by Hasbro, eOne’s President of Global Television Michael Lombardo said in November.

“We don’t want it to just be one show, so we are building out, developing out a multi-pronged approach for television, a number of scripted shows and unscripted, and we hope to be taking this out to the marketplace early next year,” he said back then.

The flagship live-action series, shepherded by Thurber, is expected to serve as a cornerstone of the TV universe as it continues to expand.