Just a couple of weeks before Wonder Woman 1984 hits screens, Chris Pine has found his next big movie. Deadline’s revealed that the Star Trek actor’s signed up to lead Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons adaptation. Based on the bestselling game, the studio is partnering up with Hasbro and eOne for the film, which is directed by Game Night duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daly.
Goldstein and Daly, who also penned the script for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, were behind the aforementioned 2018 dark comedy and they’ll be bringing a similar sensibility to this D&D movie, as it’s said to take “a subversive approach” to the game. The filmmaking pair will be directing their own screenplay, which was based on an earlier draft from Michael Gilio. Jeremy Latcham, meanwhile, is on board to produce.
Dungeons & Dragons will feature an ensemble cast, though only Pine has been announced as of yet. Deadline notes that Paramount was keen to partner up with their Star Trek leading man again as they hope to make this movie the start of a new lucrative franchise. Production is anticipated to kick off in the first quarter of next year, with filming taking place in Belfast, Ireland.
Hollywood has been trying to get a D&D adaptation together for decades now, with various studios battling to obtain the rights. The LEGO Batman Movie director Chris McKay was developing the project at one stage for Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, but it’s Paramount who got the dice rolling in the end. And now that Pine has been confirmed to be attached, look out for further casting announcements in the near future.
Aside from WW84, which lands on HBO Max this Christmas Day, the actor has several different projects on the go, including thriller Violence of Action, Olivia Wilde’s 1950s-set horror Don’t Worry Darling and Walter Cronkite biopic Newsflash. Let us know if you’re excited to see him in Dungeons & Dragons, though, in the comments section below.