HBO plans "Baldur's Gate" series with "The Last of Us" creator Craig Mazin

Kim Muntinga

6.2.2026

Translation: machine translated

Instead of retelling the original, the planned "Baldur's Gate" series focuses on a narrative continuation of the game world. This forces the production to make a canonical determination within a deliberately open role-playing world.

Following the success of «The Last of Us», HBO is once again turning to a popular video game. The US pay-TV channel is developing a series based on «Baldur's Gate», the successful role-playing game set in the world of «Dungeons & Dragons».

The broadcaster was able to recruit Craig Mazin as showrunner, who has shown with the HBO adaptation of «The Last of Us» that he can realise video game templates for a wide audience. However, the second season was met with criticism from fans: too soft, Ellie's character changed too much. Many suspect that these changes are mainly down to Mazin. He previously showed his skills as a series creator with the acclaimed mini-series «Chernobyl».

The story takes place after «Baldur's Gate 3»

In contrast to «The Last of Us», which retells the story of the original video game, Mazin is taking a different approach with «Baldur's Gate». The series is set directly after the events of «Baldur's Gate 3» and continues the plot of the game. The characters - both new and familiar - will have to deal with the consequences of the events from the third instalment.

Mazin is thus given more creative freedom, but faces up to the challenge that video game adaptations are otherwise unfamiliar with: «Baldur's Gate 3» is a player-driven role-playing game in which player decisions massively influence the course and ending. The states in which the game world can end up range from complete destruction to complete triumph.

A dungeon master takes over

Mazin knows «Baldur's Gate». By his own account, he has spent almost 1000 hours in the game world of «Baldur's Gate 3» and has even mastered the particularly difficult Honor Mode. He has also been passionately playing «Dungeons & Dragons»for 15 years and leads weekly game rounds himself as a Dungeon Master.

«Continuing the story that Larian and Wizards of the Coast have created is a dream», Mazin explains in an official statement. He describes himself as a big fan of the way developer Swen Vincke and his team have adapted the tabletop role-playing game.

HBO is co-producing the series with Hasbro Entertainment. Chris Perkins, long-time story executive at Wizards of the Coast, is accompanying the project as a consultant. In this way, the team wants to ensure that the series not only visually but also narratively captures the spirit of «Dungeons & Dragons».

The planned series is not an isolated project. It will coexist with another planned live-action series in the «Dungeons & Dragons» universe called «The Forgotten Realms», which is currently being developed for Netflix.

What you can expect

The project is still at an early stage of development. There is no concrete information on the cast, the start of filming or the release date. The focus is currently on the creative direction while the series is being conceptually prepared.

Mazin plans to seek dialogue with the game's voice actors to explore whether and in what form they could appear in the series. He successfully pursued this approach with «The Last of Us»: Merle Dandridge, who reprised her role as Marlene from the game for the HBO series, was particularly prominent. Whether a similar approach will be implemented for «Baldur's Gate» remains to be seen.

The schedule is closely related to Mazin's current employees. He is still working on the third season of «The Last of Us», which is expected to mark the end of the series. Only then can he fully concentrate on «Baldur's Gate». A series launch is therefore still some time away.

Kim Muntinga

Editor

Kim.Muntinga@galaxus.de

My interests are varied, I just like to enjoy life. Always on the lookout for news about darts, gaming, films and series.

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