Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Trailer: Actual Dungeons, And Puzzles!

It may not have been part of our most anticipated movies of 2023 list, but "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" is shaping up to be a movie you should definitely pay attention to. For starters, it may prove to be the start of an expansive "Dungeons & Dragons" cinematic multiverse spanning both scripted and unscripted projects in both TV and film. Not to mention, the movie stars silver fox Chris Pine and is written and directed by the duo behind the stellar "Game Night," John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.

Sure, there are plenty of reasons to be skeptical about the prospect of a Dungeons & Dragons" movie. For one, the iconic tabletop RPG has already been adapted in movie form, with atrocious results (except for the decent cartoon, and one fantastic anime based on actual gameplay transcriptions). Then there's the fact that the particular type of fantasy typically associated with "Dungeons and Dragons" — earnest, campy at times, and not devoid of humor — has kind of been replaced in modern times with grim, gritty fantasy shows like "Game of Thrones" which care less about a sense of adventure than they do about character drama.

And yet, every single piece of footage, and everything we've learned about this movie has helped ease our worries, and even gotten us excited about the prospect of a new "Dungeons & Dragons"movie. Now, the latest trailer is here to remind us that there is a word that comes before "Dragons" in the title, and that "D&D" is not just epic and action-packed, but it's also fun and full of puzzles and ancient ruins.

One of the things we've been hoping makes it to the film, alongside iconic monsters, are, well, dungeons. Despite being right there in the title of the game, dungeons have slowly disappeared from most "Dungeons & Dragons" campaigns in recent years. The fifth edition of "Dungeons & Dragons" is more focused on epic storytelling and grand adventures where the players save the world from great threats, rather than just exploring ancient tombs and labyrinths for the sake of it. Campaigns centered on solving puzzles or finding your way through mazes are becoming rarer and rarer, which is why it is such a delight to see the latest trailer for "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" shows the film's characters exploring massive caverns, having to solve puzzles, and triggering a trap or two along the way.

This could be the way to making this movie feel unique and special among the recent wave of fantasy shows and movies. We've seen plenty of political backstabbing and gritty war scenes lately, but we could use some more puzzle-solving and evading traps in our fantasy.

"Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" is set to be released in theaters on March 31, 2023.