Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the upcoming live-action movie, has revealed its first trailer.
Revealed during a San Diego Comic-Con 2022 panel, the trailer shows off a lot of traditional elements of Dungeons & Dragons, paired with the comedic tone the movie is going for.
The footage showed a ragtag group of misfits, led by Chris Pine's character, who are going on a journey to search for a relic. According to the trailer's voiceover, the characters have accidentally unleashed "the greatest evil the world has ever known" and have to work together to fix it. You can watch the full trailer below.
In addition to the trailer, Paramount also revealed the movie's official synopsis:
A charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers undertake an epic heist to retrieve a lost relic, but things go dangerously awry when they run afoul of the wrong people. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the rich world and playful spirit of the legendary roleplaying game to the big screen in a hilarious and action-packed adventure.
The movie's first poster was also revealed today, showing silhouettes of the main party holding their weapons in a golden dragon backdrop.
The party appears to be made up of a number of different D&D roles. One example shown is Sophia Lillis' character, who has the polymorph ability. The trailer shows her taking out tons of enemies as an Owlbear, before returning to her normal form. Pine's character even plays the lute, which is played for a joke at the end of the trailer.
At the SDCC 2022 panel, co-director John Francis Daley said that the movie has a "very unique brand of humor that sets us apart from anyone in the fantasy space".
Even with the humorous bend, the creators are striving to keep this movie true to what D&D fans know. Daley said that they included "dozens and dozens of monsters in this movie, and dozens and dozens of spells" that are all true to the extensive D&D lore. He also said that D&D isn't just a game, it's "about the feeling when playing the game and that's what we tried to bring to the film.”
Co-director Jonathan Goldstein added that they even worked with Wizards of the Coast to stick as true to the lore as possible. In addition to the Owlbear, clips shown at the panel included sightings of Displacer Beasts, a Mimic, and a Gelatinous Cube. There was also a fun easter egg reference longtime fans are sure to appreciate, as one clip showed the cast from the 1980s D&D cartoon as one of the opposing parties. We also know that there will be a cameo from at least one well-known D&D player.
Many of the actors in the movie have been turning to the source material by playing games of D&D. Pine recently played with his family, with his nephew taking the reigns as DM. Michelle Rodriguez played when she was a kid, while Sophia Lillis started playing in high school, and is a fan of both Critical Role and Adventure Zone.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is coming to theaters on March 3, 2023. The movie is in development at Paramount in association with eOne. Goldstein and Daley are directing the movie, based on a screenplay they wrote with Michael Gilio.
We've known about plans for a D&D movie for almost a decade, with a formal announcement in 2016. Until today, we knew very little about the film aside from its cast. Yesterday, we got a good first look at its main characters in costume. Watch for everything else announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2022 as the show continues.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN