Baldur's Gate 3 Director Shares Optimistic Note About HBO Show As Fanbase Raises Alarms

Fan reactions to an HBO adaptation of Baldur’s Gate 3 have been apprehensive at best, but Larian Studios boss and game director Swen Vincke offered a diplomatic and hopeful message regarding the announcement.

In an X post, Vincke reminisced about the development of Baldur’s Gate 3’s story, adding that he believes the game’s developers will find the news “cool” and that showrunner Craig Mazin contacted Larian to discuss the adaptation.

The HBO show will depict events that occur after the video game, and fan concerns stem from the fact that there are several possible endings that the show can pick up from. Vincke wrote on X: “The endings of BG3 were created so they could serve as narrative soil for new adventures. There’s plenty of directions they could go. I’m eager to find out which ones Craig and his team will pick. He’s reached out for a chat, so we’ll have the opportunity to tell him our thoughts.”

Baldur’s Gate 3 players also expressed concerns that Larian is reportedly not involved in the show’s production–unsurprising, given that the studio ended its partnership with Baldur’s Gate and Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast. In a follow-up post, Vincke said that, to his knowledge, no Larian writers were consulting on the production of the HBO program, but he expressed positivity after early talks with Mazin, saying: “From the conversation we had, I think he truly is a big fan, which gives me hope.”

But the concerns from fans stack up regardless, with many expressing dissatisfaction with Mazin’s work on Season 2 of HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation. At least in that case, Mazin had the game’s co-creator Neil Druckmann as a co-showrunner, but Druckmann left that role after Season 2’s end.

One member of Larian’s team, director of publishing Michael Douse, has been very active on social media since the announcement, reposting and replying to negative reactions and jokes about news of the adaptation. “Imma bout to crash out on main,” Douse initially declared.

Douse later followed up with a more grounded note: “I’ve spent the last 8 to 10 years of my life with the writers & creators of Baldur’s Gate 3 and they’re the most incredible storytellers & creators in the space. Only hope is that they get both the credit deserved & the characters are represented at the same level as the game.”

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