Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

***Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves*** is a 2023 American fantasy heist comedy film directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, who co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Gilio from a story by Chris McKay and Gilio. Based on the tabletop role-playing game *Dungeons & Dragons*, it is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting and has no connections to the film trilogy released between 2000 and 2012. The film stars Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, and Hugh Grant.

Production went through various phases in development since 2013, beginning with Warner Bros. Pictures after beating Hasbro and Universal Pictures in a lawsuit over the film rights to the tabletop role-playing game, before moving to Paramount Pictures, each with various writers and directors. Goldstein and Daley were the final writers/directors, using elements from the previous attempt by director Chris McKay and screenwriter Michael Gilio. Filming began in April 2021 in Iceland and later Northern Ireland.

*Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves* had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 10, 2023, and was released in the United States on March 31, 2023, by Paramount Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $160 million worldwide, making it the ninth highest-grossing film of 2023.

## Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

### Genre

Adventure
Action
Fantasy

### Directed by

Jonathan Goldstein
John Francis Daley

### Written by

Jonathan Goldstein
John Francis Daley
Michael Gilio

### Produced by

Jeremy Latcham
Brian Goldner
Nick Meyer

## Plot

Prior to imprisonment, bard Edgin Darvis served as a member of the Harpers, an order of peacekeepers, until disciples of a Red Wizard he had arrested killed his wife. Accompanied by barbarian Holga Kilgore, Edgin attempted to make a new life for himself and his daughter Kira by turning to theft, teaming with amateur sorcerer Simon Aumar, rogue Forge Fitzwilliam, and Forge's mysterious acquaintance Sofina. While raiding a Harper stronghold, Edgin attempted to steal a "Tablet of Reawakening" to resurrect his wife, but he and Holga are captured while their accomplices escape.

After two years in Revel's End arctic prison, the pair escape to Neverwinter and learn Forge has become Lord there, after its prior lord fell mysteriously incapacitated. Forge has been taking care of Kira, convincing her that Edgin's selfish greed led to his arrest. Sofina is revealed as a Red Wizard, and she and Forge deliberately orchestrated their capture.

Sofina attempts to execute Edgin and Holga, but they escape and decide to rob Forge's vault and bring Kira home during the upcoming High Sun Games, needing the tablet to prove their innocence to Kira and resurrect Edgin's wife. The gladiatorial games had previously been banned, but Forge reinstituted them, promising that the games would bring in tourists and money. Edgin and Holga track down Simon to help and he suggests also recruiting Doric, a tiefling druid, whose forest community is fighting forced logging ordered by Forge.

Shapeshifted into a fly, Doric infiltrates Forge's castle, finding the vault has magical defenses from Mordenkainen, which Simon lacks power to disable. Simon proposes that a magic relic, "The Helm of Disjunction," could disable them. They travel to an old graveyard to ask Holga's ancestors where to find it. Simon resurrects the dead with a talisman long enough for them to answer five questions each; the corpses reveal they gave the Helm to Xenk Yandar, a paladin who fled his country, Thay, when Red Wizards turned his people into an undead army. One corpse is left "alive", not having been asked all five questions.

Xenk, after forcing Edgin to swear to distribute any gained bounty to the people, guides the group through the Underdark to retrieve the Helm. With the help of a teleportation staff obtained from Holga's halfling ex-husband, they find the relic, but are attacked by Thayan assassins sent by Sofina. Xenk fights off the assassins and helps the group escape from Themberchaud, a pudgy red dragon, before departing.

Simon has trouble mastering the Helm's power, so they decide to use the staff to enter the vault during the games. Simon and Holga infiltrate the magically-sealed door but find the room empty except for a magical trap. Sofina, disguised as Kira, subdues Edgin. The group is captured and forced to participate in the games, but manages to escape the stadium. Doric discovers Forge has loaded the treasure onto a boat and is preparing to flee; the group steals the boat for themselves and rescues Kira from Forge, who threatened Kira's life.

As they escape, the group realize Sofina organized the games to draw a massive crowd and turn them into an undead army using the curse that destroyed Thay. The group returns, transporting Forge's stolen riches out of the boat with the teleportation staff and spreading them across the city by hot-air balloon, drawing the people out of the stadium before Sofina's spell takes effect.

Enraged at her defeat, Sofina attacks the group, but Simon is able to master his magic and nullify Sofina's time-stop spell, allowing Kira to use an invisibility pendant Edgin and Holga gave her as a child to place an anti-magic bracelet on Sofina. Sofina is killed when attacked by Doric in owlbear form and then crushed by falling debris, but Holga is fatally injured. Edgin uses the tablet to bring her back to life, accepting that he wanted to bring back his wife only for his own sake while Holga had become a true part of their family. Doric signals openness to a relationship with Simon. Restored, the old Lord of Neverwinter declares the team heroes of the realm. Xenk sends Forge to Revel's End; Forge spectacularly fails to escape as Edgin and Holga did.

## Cast

* Chris Pine as Edgin Darvis
* Michelle Rodriguez as Holga Kilgore
* Regé-Jean Page as Xenk Yendar
	+ Rylan Jackson portrays a young Xenk.
* Justice Smith as Simon Aumar
* Sophia Lillis as Doric
* Hugh Grant as Forge Fitzwilliam
* Chloe Coleman as Kira Darvis
* Daisy Head as Sofina
* Jason Wong as Dralas

## Production

### Development

On May 7, 2013, Warner Bros. Pictures and Courtney Solomon's Sweetpea Entertainment announced a film based on *Dungeons & Dragons* with David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick writing the script and Roy Lee, Alan Zeman, and Solomon producing. Two days later, Hasbro issued a lawsuit saying that they were co-producing a *Dungeons & Dragons* film at Universal Pictures with Chris Morgan writing and directing. On August 3, 2015, after U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee urged Sweetpea Entertainment and Hasbro to settle the film rights case, the Warner Bros. film was set for pre-production with Hasbro. On March 31, 2016, Rob Letterman was in negotiations to direct Johnson-McGoldrick's script, with his role confirmed on May 13, 2016. In April 2017, actor Joe Manganiello, an avid fan of *Dungeons & Dragons*, revealed that he had written a script with John Cassel for the project and was "talking to all the right parties" to make the film happen. Upon completing the script, Manganiello worked in collaboration with Brad Peyton and Dwayne Johnson, who were both in negotiations to develop the film.

In December 2017, after varying degrees of progression, the film was moved by Hasbro to Paramount Pictures and was scheduled for a release date of July 23, 2021. In February 2018, Paramount was in talks with both Chris McKay and Michael Gilio to direct and write the film, respectively. In March 2019, it was revealed that Gilio had completed a first draft and studio executives expressed excitement for the film. The studio began negotiations with various talent, as the casting process began. On July 30, 2019, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley were in talks to direct. Goldstein and Daley began meeting with Paramount following Daley talking about his career with a literary agent at a sports bar in Sherman Oaks during a game between the Chicago Cubs, which Daley is a fan of, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. After saying to the agent that he and Goldstein had left directing duties on *The Flash*, the agent asked if they were looking for work. The agent tipped off Paramount, who presented Goldstein and Daley with the script for *Dungeons & Dragons*.

### Writing

By January 2020, Goldstein and Daley announced that they had co-written a new draft of the script. Ultimately, Daley, Goldstein, and Gilio received screenplay credit, while McKay and Gilio received story credit. Goldstein stated that "ours is a movie that doesn't take itself with great seriousness, but it's never a spoof. It honors the world of *D&D* and celebrates it but, hopefully, it gives the audience an engaging and fun ride". Daley commented that the film's influences include *The Princess Bride*, *Monty Python and the Holy Grail*, *The Lord of the Rings*, and *Indiana Jones*, with the *Indiana Jones* structure evoking both a "dungeon crawl" and the heist film genre that they wanted to draw on. Daley highlighted that the heist genre is familiar to the audience, which provides the framework for the "uninitiated" so that "they understand what our characters are setting out to do without being overwhelmed by lore or proper nouns". Daley also wanted the film to be accessible for those unfamiliar with the fantasy genre. *The Austin Chronicle* highlighted "since the basis of most tabletop campaigns is a group of strangers coming together to complete a job, the thematic parallels between heist movies and fantasy roleplaying campaigns offer a shared language for newcomers".

Goldstein commented that they use the sorcerer character in the film to address why magic can't "solve all problems" – "it makes storytelling nearly impossible if you can solve any problem with a magical spell". Goldstein stated that when discussing the visual presentation of the film with Daley that they decided they didn't want "two people standing there with their hands out and rays coming out of their hands". As a result, the film pulls directly from the magic system of *Dungeons & Dragons* with magic users "combining physical components and verbal spellcasting to show a variety of magical effects onscreen". Justice Smith, who plays the sorcerer, commented that he worked with the choreographer "to create unique gestures for each spell" with many of the spells incorporating actual sign language into the gestures.

### Casting

On June 27, 2016, Ansel Elgort was in talks to star in Letterman's iteration of the film. In December 2020, Chris Pine was cast to star in the film. Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, and Regé-Jean Page were added in February 2021. Hugh Grant and Sophia Lillis would join the next month, with Grant cast as the antagonist. In April, Chloe Coleman joined the ensemble cast. In May, Jason Wong and Daisy Head joined the cast.

During post-production, Bradley Cooper was cast in a cameo role. He filmed his part on blue screen and was inserted into preexisting footage shot with Rodriguez.

### Filming

Filming began in early April 2021, with a crew of 60-70 people in Iceland. Principal photography commenced in Belfast, Northern Ireland later that month. Goldstein stated that when the cast arrived in Northern Ireland they "played a several-hours-long game of *D&D*" with the actors role-playing as their film characters which "gave those who were not familiar with [*D&D*] a quick taste of what the game is like and how you interact". This game "also informed the directors' takes on the characters" with Goldstein commenting that "I think we incorporated some of the things we learned from that game into the film".

On August 19, 2021, Daley announced that filming had completed.