After a few years of major product announcements coming via multi-day livestreams that emulate conventions, the 2022 announcement leans heavy into the TV and video game sectors with a “Direct.” This makes a lot of sense when you see in the announcement trailer there are both video game and motion picture clues.

You can watch the D&D Direct at 9 AM PT on Thursday April 21st. Considering that Dungeons and Dragons is now a global phenomena this time is as good as it can be since it will be during working hours in Seattle/LA, NYC, and London.

Wizards of the Coast broke the Direct into three significant chunks and says that it will address “2022 and Beyond.” Yes, it’s possible that the Beyond references WotC buying DnDBeyond. But it also means we will get insight into the 2023 and maybe even the 2024 edition update.

Books and Accessories

We are almost certainly going to find out about Spelljammer. There was the Unearthed Arcana and several hints with the giff, Boo, and the mindflayer. The

Dragonlance will probably also be announced. Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons mentioned the popular romantic fantasy bookline and setting. The originators of the novels have a new trilogy coming this summer. There’s a natural opportunity maximize the zeitgeist, even if both the modern game product and novels aren’t directly related.

There is also a new Starter Set that was revealed during a full-company Hasbro announcement. Dragons of Stormwrack Isle may even be related to the 80s cartoon.

The days of announcing just one product at a time are over. D&D is a large enough brand with a large enough staff there will be overlapping efforts to expand the now mainstream brand.

Video Game Updates

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the big one. We’ll probably get a major update on the current beta playtest, as well as hints at other future video games. There are several projects in development both internally and externally.

This is the area where there have been the least public clues so far.

Entertainment Projects

Movie

The John Francis Daley (Rime of the Frostmaiden, Game Night, Spider-Man: Homecoming) and Jonathon Goldstein (Game Night, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Vacation) project already wrapped filming and is in post-production. An ensemble cast of major genre actors Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Regé-Jean Page and more. Pine has declared that it is Game of Thrones meets The Princess Bride.

With shooting done and a release date of March 3, 2023 there is a chance that we see a teaser for the film during Direct, if not then, by the start of summer. It’s time for the project hype to start ramping up.

Daley & Goldstein are already working on another Hasbro/eOne project M.A.S.K.. IMDB credits both as writers on the project that will be part of a shared universe with G.I. Joe.

A small chance exists that D&D would announce another movie project.

TV shows

There are, or were, projects from Rawson Marshall Thurber (Red Notice) and Derek Kolstad (John Wick) either in development or pitched at various points during the pandemic.

Once upon a time Joe Manganiello developed a Dragonlance script that was likely a movie at the time. With Weiss and Hickman returning to novel writing, could the Magic Mike star resurrect his project officially and not just as a piece of fanfic? Would a boutique series make more sense?

They aren’t going to spend time talking about the D&D adjacent projects from Critical Role, Adventure Zone and the gobs of genre projects on Prime, Netflix, HBO Max, etc. Because while all of those projects help boost fantasy and D&D they are not official.

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What project are you most excited to get more details about during D&D Direct?