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Netflix is developing a live-action television series set in Ravenloft, the gothic horror corner of the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, according to a report by Deadline. The project, titled simply Ravenloft, has acclaimed film-maker Alfonso Cuarón attached as executive producer, with the screenplay written by John August, who will also serve as an executive producer alongside Hasbro Entertainment's Gabriel Marano. Both sources frame the deal as Netflix's latest attempt to bring the world's best-known tabletop role-playing game to the screen, with one report noting it is positioned as the successor to the streamer's previously shelved Forgotten Realms series.

Ravenloft has been part of Dungeons & Dragons since 1983, when it began as a single adventure module built around the tragic vampire lord Count Strahd von Zarovich. Where the wider D&D game is typically associated with swashbuckling parties raiding dungeons for treasure, Ravenloft strips that away in favour of mist-bound gothic terror: haunted castles, cursed bloodlines and monstrous villains trapped by their own sins. The setting expanded over the decades into the so-called Domains of Dread, a patchwork of realms each governed by a despairing Darklord, with individual domains echoing classic horror archetypes such as Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. More recent sourcebooks, including Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft and Ravenloft: The Horrors Within, have broadened the setting well beyond Strahd's homeland of Barovia, giving the prospective series a wide well of stories to draw from.

Cuarón brings a decorated résumé to the project. The Mexican director has won two Best Director Oscars, for Gravity and for his autobiographical Roma, the latter having premiered on Netflix. His other credits span Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and the dystopian thriller Children of Men, and he most recently created the 2024 miniseries Disclaimer for Apple TV+, marking his most recent move into episodic television ahead of this new streaming venture.

The announcement lands amid a mixed history for Dungeons & Dragons on screen: a fondly remembered 1980s cartoon and the modestly performing but well-liked 2023 film Honor Among Thieves sit alongside widely panned efforts such as the 2000 feature film and various projects that stalled in development. A follow-up to Honor Among Thieves remains unconfirmed despite co-writer Jonathan Goldstein saying a script already exists. Even so, the brand's broader cultural footprint continues to grow through the enduring popularity of the video game Baldur's Gate 3 and the actual-play phenomenon Critical Role, underlining why Netflix and Hasbro see further screen adaptations as worthwhile.

Where outlets differ

Source 1 concentrates heavily on Alfonso Cuarón's directorial career and filmography, using it to underline the pedigree behind the project, while Source 2 gives his background only a passing mention and instead foregrounds the lore and history of the Ravenloft setting itself.

Source 2 explicitly states that Ravenloft is being positioned as the successor to Netflix's now-cancelled Forgotten Realms series and situates the news within D&D's wider franchise push (citing Baldur's Gate 3 and Critical Role); Source 1 does not mention the Forgotten Realms project at all.

Source 2 provides more detail on Ravenloft's in-game lore (Domains of Dread, Van Richten's Guide, The Horrors Within), whereas Source 1 gives a brief, more general description of the setting.

Both attribute the original scoop to Deadline, but Source 1 frames the story more around Netflix's troubled history adapting D&D to film, while Source 2 frames it more around the uncertain status of a Honor Among Thieves sequel and D&D's broader transmedia success.

• collider.com
• www.polygon.com