The Dungeons & Dragons TV Show I've Wanted For Over 20 Years Is Finally Happening

4 days ago 13

Published Feb 6, 2026, 8:30 PM EST

Nicholas Raymond is an author and journalist based out of Alabama, where he proudly roots for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team. A graduate of the University of Montevallo, he has a degree in mass communication with a concentration in journalism.

The Dungeons & Dragons TV series I've wanted for over 20 years is finally coming to pass. Surprisingly, there's now not one, but two shows based on the world of Dungeons & Dragons in the works.

With Shawn Levy at the helm, Netflix is working on a live-action D&D series set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. That was more than enough to be exciting now, but it's since been reported that a second show, which will continue the story of Larian Studios' Baldur's Gate 3, is in development for HBO Max.

With the Baldur's Gate RPG video game franchise also taking place within the Forgotten Realms setting, that gives us two Dungeons & Dragons shows to look forward to in the near future. As for the Baldur's Gate series specifically, it's something I've been wanting to see on the small screen for decades.

The Baldur's Gate Franchise Has Always Felt Perfect For TV

Baldur's Gate 3 Jaheira Close-up in Last Light Inn

Long before Baldur's Gate 3 rejuvenated the RPG series and brought it into the mainstream consciousness, the franchise already felt like a great candidate for a live-action TV adaptation. Like the third one, the first two games followed the exploits of a small D&D party on a long and treacherous adventure, solving mysteries and taking down extremely powerful foes along the way.

At the time, I believed that a show based on Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn would make for incredible TV. I imagined the series following the development of the Bhaalspawn hero from the two games as he or she goes from a recently orphaned young adult trying to understand their own identity to a capable adventurer and leader.

With all the twists and turns in the two stories, there was more than enough room for all sorts of character development. But just like it was with the first two Baldur's Gate games, I would expect much of the charm to come from the characters that the protagonist surrounds themselves with.

The Baldur's Gate games created an amazing and surprisingly diverse assortment of companions for the main character to travel with, from a warrior who believes he can talk to his hamster to a deadbeat-dad druid with a penchant for nature metaphors.

Their many differences and interactions with each other is where most of the fun came from, and it's not hard to imagine that translating to a live-action story in the TV format. In the games, the Bhaalspawn's party is like a revolving door, with new allies leaving and entering the fold, whether it's due to betrayals, goals no longer aligning, or unforeseen tragedies.

In this sense, a Baldur's Gate show could be the Dungeons & Dragons equivalent of a show like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones, boasting a rotating cast packed with fully-realized, likable characters you can fall in love with and be kept on the edge of your seat from episode to episode, wondering when they're going to die.

Of course, HBO Max's Baldur's Gate show isn't going to use the same characters since it's going to be a continuation of the third game (although a few returning favorites isn't impossible). But if it follows the blueprint of the games that preceded it, it can most certainly create its own group of interesting characters to join the protagonist on their adventure.

However, since Baldur's Gate III did work to retain much of the spirit of the first two games, there's good reason to hope that the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons show can finally make this wish a reality.