HBO has revealed that, following in the recent success of The Last of Us, they’re moving forward with more video game adaptations, and with Craig Mazin also picking up another showrunner gig, this time for a series based on Baldur’s Gate 3.
According to Deadline, the series won’t be a straight adaptation of the video game; instead, it will pick up where Baldur’s Gate 3 left off and continue the story with both new and returning characters.
“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,” Mazin said. “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.”
Unlike both The Last of Us series, which had involvement from Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog, both as a writer, co-creator and even director, as well as Todd Howard from Bethesda being involved as an executive producer on Prime Video’s Fallout series, the Baldur’s Gate series for HBO won’t have any involvment from Larian Studios, the studio behind Baldur’s Gate 3, which picked-up many Game of the Year awards, including here at Explosion Network.
Michael Douse, the Director of Publishing at Larian Studios, has been having an interesting and somewhat humorous reaction to the news about the show, as have other Larian employees I’ve seen online. The mix of confusion, shocked announcement, and slight annoyance is palpable.
Swen Vincke, the CEO of Larian, has given a more PR friendly response to the news:
“The endings of BG3 were created so they could serve as narrative soil for new adventures. There’s plenty of directions they could go. I’m eager to find out which ones Craig and his team will pick. He’s reached out for a chat so we’ll have the opportunity to tell him our thoughts.”
What are your thoughts on the announcement of HBO’s Baldur’s Gate series? Let me know in the comments section below.
