‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ Getting Canon TV Sequel From ‘The Last Of Us’ Showrunner Craig Mazin, Original Devs Larian Studios “Have No Involvement”
Pour one out for the Baldur’s Gate 3 fans in your life, as the widely-acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons spin-off title will soon be receiving a Larian Studios-less, live-action TV sequel – as in, a direct, canon continuation of the game’s story – courtesy of HBO and The Last Of Us showrunner Craig Mazin.
Its existence first revealed courtesy of Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva, said adaptation will be created, written, executive produced, and showrun by Mazin, who intends to approach the show, per Andreeva, as “a continuation to the games, telling a story that takes place immediately after the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, as the characters — old and new — are dealing with the ramifications of the events in the third game.”
To this end, given that Hasbro has yet to green-light any official follow-up to Baldur’s Gate 3, video game or otherwise, Mazin will have “freedom over the direction of the story, making it more of a traditional show vs. The Last of Us whose plot and lifespan were determined by the existing games.”
Notably, the HBO Baldur’s Gate series will reportedly “co-exist” with Netflix’s own live-action D&D adaptation The Forgotten Realms, though it’s currently unclear whether this means the two shows will share the same continuity or merely see production at the same time.
Commenting on his new assignment, Mazin told the Deadline reporter, “After putting nearly 1000 hours into the incredible world of Baldur’s Gate 3, it is a dream come true to be able to continue the story that Larian and Wizards of The Coast created.”
“I am a devoted fan of D&D and the brilliant way that Swen Vincke and his gifted team adapted it. I can’t wait to help bring Baldur’s Gate and all of its incredible characters to life with as much respect and love as we can, and I’m deeply grateful to Gabe Marano and his team at Hasbro for entrusting me with this incredibly important property.”
And while the idea of allowing a single writer to establish a unified post-game experience for a player choice-heavy game like Baldur’s Gate 3 is already worrying enough on its face, further complicating the matters is the fact that the game’s original Larian Studios dev team will apparently have absolutely nothing to do with the HBO series’ production.
Retweeting his own announcement of the show’s production, The Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley confirmed, “Larian, the creators of Baldur’s Gate 3, tell me they have no involvement in the series.”
However, this is not to say that Mazin is shutting himself off to the idea of collaboration, as according to Andreeva, the showrunner “plans to reach out to voice cast members of Baldur’s Gate 3 with ideas for them to participate in the TV adaptation, if possible.”
At present, Mazin’s take on Baldur’s Gate has yet to receive any official production dates.
