A sequel to Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves has been written, but co-director Jonathan Goldstein says it may never reach the screen — because of money.

Goldstein and his co-writer and co-director John Francis Daley were hired to draft the follow-up, Goldstein confirmed in an interview with ScreenRant. The script exists. The cameras have not rolled, and according to Goldstein, they may not. He attributes the stall to "financial reasons" and the sheer cost of mounting a fantasy film of that scale, as reported by Variety.

The first film, released in 2023, grossed $205.46 million at the worldwide box office against an estimated $150 million production budget, per Variety. That budget was split between Paramount and Entertainment One, a subsidiary of the toy and games company Hasbro, which owns the Dungeons & Dragons brand. For context, box-office gross is the total ticket money collected by cinemas worldwide before the studio takes its share — and a $150 million production budget does not include marketing, distribution, or the print-and-advertising spend that can add tens of millions more.

By the rough industry rule of thumb, a film typically needs to earn roughly twice its production budget in theatrical gross to approach breakeven. On that measure, Honor Among Thieves fell short, even before accounting for the split between studios and cinema owners.

Hugh Grant, who played the villain Forge in the film, told Vanity Fair in 2024 that the box-office result was a "mystery" to him and questioned why market research had not been conducted before release, as cited by Variety. His comments reflect a broader question that has hung over the project: why a film with strong reviews and a beloved brand behind it could not convert that into ticket sales.

For fans, the news lands as a double-edged update. The sequel's screenplay is finished, which means the creative team had a story they were excited to tell. But a completed script is only one link in a long chain — and without a studio willing to commit the budget, that script stays on the page.

Goldstein and Daley are not idle in the meantime. The pair are now developing the next Star Trek film for Paramount, according to Variety. That project keeps them inside the Paramount system, the same studio that partnered on the first Dungeons & Dragons film, even as the fantasy sequel remains in limbo.

Whether the sequel eventually moves forward may depend on factors beyond the script itself — streaming performance, ancillary revenue, or a shift in studio strategy. For now, the adventure remains unwritten on screen, even though it already exists on paper.