At San Diego Comic-Con, Paramount debuted the first footage and trailer for their upcomingDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. While the trailer for the film, coming out on June 24, 2025, has already been released, the cast and crew in attendance at the panel additionally debuted a behind-the-scenes look and several clips, as well as described more of what we can expect from the upcoming film.
During a behind-the-scenes clip, starChris Pine,who plays a lute-playing bard, says in voiceover that the film is a “great emotional journey about a ragtag group of misfits going against insane odds.”René-Jean Page, who plays a Paladin, states that the film has a “wicked sense of humor,” which is shown through a quick clip of Page and Pine playing off each other that proves this to be true. We also get glimpses of Northern Ireland, where the film was shot, as well as plenty of dragons, monsters, and a giant fish that the cast later joked was covered in KY jelly.
In another clip, the team—which includes Pine, Page,Michelle Rodriguez,Justice Smith, andSophia Lillis—are trying to find a helmet. In order to do so, they must use an incantation to revive skeletons in a graveyard, yet they can only ask the revived five questions before they die, never to be revived again. This clip does an excellent job of setting up the tone of the film, directed and co-written byJonathan GoldsteinandJohn Francis Daley.
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Goldstein and Daley know how to mix humor and action, as we’ve seen in their screenplay forSpider-Man: Homecoming, as well as their work directing 2018’sGame Night. Right away, this trip to the cemetery isn’t what this team expected, as they dig up one body, ask whether the deceased body was at a specific battle, then accidentally waste the other four questions. In talking with other dead bodies that were at this battle, we meet a soldier with his eye hanging out, a man who died stepping out of the bath, and a man who answers all their questions, leading them to have to waste their other questions on things like “What’s your favorite food” and “Do you like cats?” But amongst this line of questioning,Dungeons & Dragonsjumps back to that fateful battle, showcasing the film’s action, with a massive fight occurring, while a dragon flies overhead, spewing fire on unsuspecting warriors.
Even more action-packed is the second clip shown, much of which features in the first trailer. The second scene starts withHugh Grantatop a massive pillar in the middle of a giant coliseum. His character promises the audience a wonderful gift for everyone in attendance, then asks to get off the gigantic pedestal that was much higher than he expected.
We then see Lillis, Pine, Rodriguez, and Smith in the pit of the coliseum, faced with having to go through a huge maze, alongside two other teams (one of which looks suspiciously like the crew from the 1980s animated series). As they go through the maze, they are hunted by several displacer beasts, who attack in shocking fashion throughout the maze. As the team tries to survive through the twisty maze, they also find various chests with different weapons. Upon trying to open one, Rodriguez gets attacked by a mimic that looks like the chest, grabbing her with a gigantic tongue trying to drag her into its mouth. Thankfully, Lillis comes in just in time to slice the tongue of Rodriguez. Finally, the scene concludes with another team’s member getting sucked into a gelatinous cube, which Lillis almost gets stuck in as well.
These first two clips, and the trailer, show promise for what Goldstein and Daley are trying to accomplish here, blending humor and action in equal measure, and with a cast that is certainly great at doing both. This sense of humor was especially in full form during their panel in Hall H.
The cast and crew started the panel by discussing when each of them first got into Dungeons & Dragons. Daley stated that he fell in love with the game as a teenager, playing with the cast on the set ofFreaks and Geeks. Pine mentioned that he had a nephew who was a fan and that his whole family got into it, and now, Pine wants to spread the gospel of Dungeons & Dragons. Rodriguez said “you don’t grow up in Jersey without playing D&D,” While Page said that he “basically grew up like Eddie Munson,” and that he was always D&D adjacent, growing up with games likeChrono TriggerandDiablo. Lillis said that she started playing in high school and that she’s getting into D&D podcasts likeCritical RoleandAdventure Zone. In one of the panels’ funniest moments, the cast joked that Grant had always been a D&D fan, to which Rodriguez replied, “I think you mixed it up with S&M.” Grant delightfully countered by saying, “She’s not wrong. I’ve been an enthusiastic dungeon master for some years now.” Grant also joked that he had tried to come to Comic-Con before, stating, “We did attempt to come forSense & Sensibility, but they turned us down.”
The cast and crew also further described what to expect inD&D, with Pine saying there was a “Spielbergian energy” to the script, with an open, light, buoyant, kinetic energy. Daley also teased that there are dozens of monsters and creatures in the movie and dozens of spells that are true to the game’s lore, and that Wizard of the Coast helped with the Easter eggs to keep them correct to the game’s lore. It was also mentioned that there would be at least one cameo from a well-known D&D player. When asked if we might see some D&D characters who appeared inStranger Things, Goldstein and Daley were somewhat cagey about the answer, but said we could see all sorts of monsters if this started a franchise. Grant also stated that he “hates all scripts,” but that he found this one to be funny, and that it has a real “Monty Python vibe to it.”
Page, in particular, seemed to have a lot of fun with theD&Dworld, stating that he had the “best time you could possibly imagine in this job,” since he got to swing around a sword for a living, and that by the end of training he “had the best ass of my life.” When asked if his character would be lawful or chaotic, Page said that was sort of a spoiler, but that the choice is clear once we meet the character. As the cast stated what class they would be in real life, Page said “If Leroy Jenkins was a class, that would be me.” Rodriguez said she would be a wizard since she likes the idea of “being able to disappear and appear whenever the fuck I want.” Grant, suitable, had the perfect answer, stating that he would be “the highest class.”
When asked what properties they’d like to see crossed over with another property, Page joked he would like to see a crossover withSense & Sensibility, while Pine said he’d like to see is crossover withTop Gun, in order to seeTom Cruisewith wizards. Rodriguez gave the perfectly nerdy answer, saying she’d want to see a D&D crossover withIsaac Asimov’sFoundation, for D&D in space.
But the real star of the panel was Grant, who kept the cast, crew, and audience consistently laughing. When Grant was asked what his spirit animal would be, he joked, “I suppose I’m a tiger. It’s always been my nickname in the bedroom.” When asked if they took anything from the set, Grant replied, “For years, I’ve always taken home a couple of extras. I’ve got quite a few now. They’re in my dungeon now.”
But from the footage shown, and the rapport between the cast and crew, it certainly seems likeDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thievesis going to be quite a bit of fun. When asked if they’d be up for making a sequel, Rodriguez replied with a resounding “absolutely.” It’s clear this team loves this property and wants to give it the justice it deserves. We’ll see whenHonor Among ThievesbringsDungeons & Dragonsto life on June 04, 2025.
