Four cast members from the Netflix horror show Stranger Things have come together to film a Dungeons & Dragons holiday-themed one-shot, hosted by a Wizards of the Coast lead designer, set to air later this week.
Netflix's hit television series Stranger Things was heavily inspired and influenced by the tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons. Some of the first moments on-screen show the original four kids — Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin — playing a campaign that, according to Mike, lasted ten hours. It foreshadows events that happen later in Season 1, with Will's character getting kidnapped by the Demogorgon monster . In the second season, the kids use the concept of a fantasy creature, the Mind Flayer, to explain what happens to Will after he returns.
Stranger Things' David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), and Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson) will join Principle Game Designer Chris Perkins, who will be the Dungeon Master of the session, for a single holiday D&D session. The one-shot hosted by Lost Odyssey, called "Toy Time for Ten-Towns," will drop on the Stranger Things YouTube channel Friday, December 18 at 10:00 a.m. PT.
Some names of their characters have been revealed in the trailer, such as Wolfhard playing a character named Sylvester and Dyer playing a character named Jinx, but no other roles or descriptions have been detailed. It has not been said how long the runtime of this D&D session will be; one-shots can last anywhere from an hour to four hours, and Critical Role's Night Before Christmas lasted nearly five hours (with breaks).
Dungeons & Dragons veterans on Twitter are excited to see Chris Perkins in charge of this session. In the past, Perkins acted as the Dungeon Master for a Twitch campaign known as Dice, Camera, Action, and for Acquisitions Incorporated D&D games at PAX events. He has also guest-starred on Critical Role twice.
Instead of meeting in person, Toy Time for Ten-Towns was filmed in collaboration with Wizards of the Coast using a SOLO Cinebot to capture the game in cinematic quality while keeping the cast members safe. Speaking of the coronavirus pandemic, filming for Stranger Things as well as other Netflix shows were halted back in March and started back up in October, resulting in heavy delays of the fourth season.
Though a trailer of the upcoming season has been dropped, Season 4 of Stranger Things likely won't release until mid-2021.
Stranger Things is available on Netflix.