Netflix has rolled initiative on Dungeons & Dragons, and the die came up vampires.
The streamer has greenlit a live-action series titled Ravenloft, centered on the origin story of Darklord Strahd von Zarovich, the vampire antagonist at the heart of the Ravenloft setting. Alfonso Cuarón is attached as an executive producer, alongside John August, who is also serving as the show’s writer.
It amounts to a gothic fantasy project carrying a genuine filmmaker’s name — something most tabletop adaptations never manage.
Cuarón has been here before
This isn't his first job for Netflix. He wrote and directed Roma for the service back in 2018, and the film drew critical acclaim.
Still, executive producer is a far looser credit than writer-director, and wanting more from the arrangement is reasonable. Cuarón aiming those particular talents directly at Strahd would have made for a far more interesting announcement.
August makes for a sensible consolation prize. His screenplay credits include Tim Burton projects such as Big Fish and Corpse Bride — a handy résumé for a tale involving a castle, a curse and a man who cannot die.
Why this feels familiar
If you’re convinced you’ve already heard about a D&D adaptation, you’re not imagining it. A 2023 movie featured Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez and Regé-Jean Page. HBO, meanwhile, has a Baldur’s Gate 3 show in development, which functions as close to a D&D expansion in video game form.
D&D is a sprawling world that never stops expanding. Much of that is what makes it sing at the table, and it’s precisely why studios keep returning to the well: some corner of the map has always gone unfilmed.
The pick matters more than the platform
Choosing Ravenloft beats yet another party-of-adventurers romp. Strahd isn’t a genre — he’s a specific character carrying a specific tragedy. Building a series around his backstory gives the story somewhere to travel that a quest structure simply doesn’t.
Whether Netflix actually treats it that way remains the open question. At the moment, the credits are the most compelling element on offer, and it’s Cuarón’s name doing the heaviest lifting.