New D&D TV Channel Coming This Summer
New channel will reportedly feature free, 24-hour streaming content focused on real-play game sessions
If you absolutely need more Dungeons and Dragons in your life, then you’ll be happy to learn that D&D will soon be snagging its very own dedicated TV channel. According to an exclusive news story from Variety, the upcoming channel will be produced by Entertainment One (also known as eOne), the film and television production company which – like the D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast – is also owned by Hasbro.
Variety reports that the new channel will feature original, unscripted content from some of the top Dungeons and Dragons influencers, along with reruns of the 1980s D&D animated series. It’s all part of a new streaming model which the entertainment industry refers to as FAST (free, ad-supported streaming television).
So far, Hasbro has confirmed three shows for the channel. The first will be based on the popular Encounter Party real-play D&D podcast. The channel will also reportedly include programming based on the real-play D&D celebrity show Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill! Finally, the channel will include a new series entitled Heroes’ Feast, which will be a cooking competition and talk show inspired by the official D&D cookbook of the same name. Additional shows will also likely be announced in the coming days.
Actors Seth Green and Deborah Ann Woll appearing in Faster, Purple Worm! Kill! Kill!
A smart move for Wizards of the Coast?
The news comes at a strange time for D&D and publisher Wizards of the Coast. Clearly interest is high in the property remains high, thanks to live play shows like Critical Role and the success of the Dungeons & Dragons film Honor Among Thieves. It’s also not the brand’s only foray into television, with a new D&D live action TV series reportedly coming to the Paramount+ streaming platform.
At the same time, the D&D brand’s reputation has taken a significant hit in recent months due to the Open Game License debacle, so it remains to be seen whether or not fans will flock to the new channel. Additionally, Hasbro has been reportedly trying to sell eOne for some time now, and investors will likely be closely watching the performance of the channel and eOne’s streaming capabilities.
Currently, there is no confirmed release date for the new D&D channel, but according to Variety it will likely launch sometime in the summer of 2023, which means further details will likely be coming soon. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story as it develops.
More D&D News Coverage
For more from the world of Wizards of the Coast, visit our D&D News page.
Cameron Nichols is a Senior Editor who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and has been playing D&D since the early 90s, when he was introduced by his older brother and cut his teeth on AD&D 2nd Edition. Since then he’s played virtually every RPG he could get his nerdy little mitts on (including a weird Goth phase in the early 2000s when he rocked Vampire: The Masquerade pretty hard). His favorite D&D campaign setting is the Forgotten Realms and his favorite character to play was a Half-Orc Barbarian named Grug (who was unfortunately devoured by a gelatinous cube).
