Dragon Age: Inquisition is out today across PlayStation, Xbox and PC, and from all accounts it seems to be a return to form for Bioware’s fantasy series after a rushed out second installment a few years ago. Inquisition is an absolutely mammoth game, and should give Skyrim die-hards enough content to keep them busy at least through the new year. As I’m playing through the story, I’m finding the Dragon Age universe to be as compelling and rich as any fantasy landscape I’ve come across either on film or in books, and it has me wondering, can anyone figure out how to make an effective Dragon Age TV show? I’ve had a similar hope in mind for Bioware’s space opera Mass Effect for many years now, but a Dragon Age show seems like something more within the realm of possibility given the absolutely massive success of Game of Thrones on HBO. While we haven’t seen a huge rush of other fantasy projects yet, we’re going to start to, as a number are in the works as we speak.
And why shouldn’t they be? Game of Thrones is only on ten weeks out of a fifty-two week year, leaving plenty of room for other networks who want to swoop in and draft their own must-see fantasy show. And though there are endless series that could be considered for adaptation, Dragon Age seems premade to be one of the best possible candidate to morph into a TV show due to the somewhat episodic nature of the game. The Dragon Age universe has the benefit of Bioware sinking zillions of man hours into building up the lore of the universe, and also zillions more player hours introducing people to all the characters of the realm. The result is a pretty solid roster of a supporting cast, and one that seems like it could easily make the leap from a game to the small screen.
And yet, there are hiccups with my plan here, and a few obstacles standing in the way of what would otherwise be an amazing fantasy series.
The Game of Thrones universe uses magic in very, very small doses. There are only three dragons in the whole realm and they’ve been (relatively) small to this point. There are no wizards or witches casting spells, and only a few fantastical creatures roaming the lands like giants and White Walkers. As a result, this keeps the budget from inflating to insanity (and it’s already rather large as is).
But Dragon Age? The series is full-on Lord of the Rings-ish fantasy with tons of magic and spells, fantasy creatures, demons, elves, etc, and would likely cost a lot from a CGI perspective, but also for practical make-up given the different races of the world.
Past that, Dragon Age has a non-budget-related issue as well, with a variable lead that has always been created by the player. You can be a warrior, rogue, or mage, each with different backstory, and you can be a kind and benevolent hero, or a murderous a-hole. The idea that the show would have to pick a lead (probably a boring white male, knowing how TV works) and pick a set of decisions that the players may not have made could lead to some narrative issues that weren’t present in the game.
If all of this sounds impossible, I think many would have said the same thing about bringing Game of Thrones to TV five or ten years ago. So who is to say the medium won’t evolve to the point where five or ten years from now, a Dragon Age show couldn’t be a very real possibility? By that time, there will be at least another handful of games in the series to draw on for lore, and costs will continue to drop as CG becomes more and more accessible in time.
It just seems like such a great universe that deserves to have the opportunity to jump across the video game media gap into something else like TV. I wouldn’t say no to a movie trilogy either, and that could be a very real possibility given that LOTR and The Hobbit are officially out of material.
What do you think, Dragon Age fans?
[Photos via Bioware]
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