A new clip from “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” was made public a few hours ago. The title of the clip reads “Questions For A Corpse,” which is about, yeah, you guessed it right, our protagonists asking a few questions to a reincarnated corpse. The scene is an edited version of the actual footage that was shown at the San Diego Comic-Con to fans of the fantasy tabletop roleplaying game originally designed by Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax. Last July, the fans inside Hall H at the Honor Among Thieves panel seemed to like the clip very much, and now fans all over the world can watch a part of it.
Spoilers Ahead
Everything You Need To Know About The Clip And The Rules Of Dungeons & Dragons
The clip involves our band of explorers in a cemetery, trying to raise a corpse from its ultimate slumber to interrogate him about the whereabouts of an important magical artifact, probably the helmet of Mordenkainen’s Disjunction. Mordenkainen’s disjunction is a potent abjuration spell that successfully and permanently cancels magic by breaking it down to its most fundamental elements. The adventurers are allowed to ask only five questions to the dead, and after that, the dead will leave the mortal realm forever, never to be revived again. They encounter several issues with the mandates of the spell, as the reanimated corpse is a sucker for the rules.
A Dungeons & Dragons-themed movie has been in development hell for a while, but no one could seem to decide how they wanted to approach it. Dungeons & Dragon: Honor Among Thieves must deal with more than just transitioning from an interactive medium to an inactive one, as it is an engaging communal activity transitioning to a passive viewing experience. Everyone who has played D&D before knows that the fun comes from interactive and personalized challenges, and that is a very tough obstacle that this movie must overcome.
The directors of the film, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, have shared their comments about the clip. They have recently revealed that the man we have seen in the clip is Simon, played by Justice Smith, who is a sorcerer, who has a cleric’s token that lends him the power to speak to the dead, and he realizes that he and his companions can interrogate the corpses to find out the whereabouts of this helmet. Then Edgin, played by Chris Pine, absentmindedly asked unnecessary questions to the corpse, and the spell expired without them getting an answer to their question.
The inclusion of practical effects in the clip, which were created by Legacy Effects, the company that made the adorable Baby Yoda or Grogu puppet in The Mandalorian, has also designed this decomposing corpse, which is actually a lean actor dressed as a skeleton with a few CGI enhancements here and there. The intention behind using practical effects, according to Goldstein, was that he wanted to harken back to the movies that we, the audience, used to love from the ’80s, where they didn’t have the ability to rely on CGI-heavy characters as they do now. Also, the dialogue in the trailer could sound familiar to some D&D connoisseurs, as the spell limits their conversation with the corpse to only five questions and answers, which seems quite arbitrary.
‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ Summary, Cast, And Release Date
A charming thief attempts a daring robbery with a group of odd adventurers to steal a priceless artifact, but things go horribly wrong when they cross paths with the wrong people. In a funny and action-packed adventure, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brings the expansive world and playful spirit of the renowned roleplaying game to the big screen.
The cast of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves includes Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head, and Hugh Grant. Justice Smith plays the character Simon; Chris Pine plays Edgin; Sophia Lillis plays Doric; and Michelle Rodriguez plays Holga. Chris Pine is helming the executive producer’s chair along with Denis L. Stewart, Jonathan Goldstein, John Francis Daley, and Zev Foreman. Greg Mooradian will produce it along with Jeremy Latcham, P.G.A., Brian Goldner, and Nick Meyer. The screenplay of the film is written by Michael Gilio along with our director duo, and the basic plot of the film is adapted from “Hasbro’s Dungeons and Dragons.”
“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” is slated to be released at the South By SouthWest premiere, an annual event in Austin, Texas, on March 10, 2023, and all over the USA on March 31, 2023.