TRANSCRIPT · Joe Manganiello Says He 'Will Never Give Up Hope' on His D&D Dragonlance TV Series ## Joe Manganiello Says He 'Will Never Give Up Hope' on His D&D Dragonlance TV Series (IGN) https://www.ign.com/articles/joe-manganiello-says-he-will-never-give-up-hope-on-his-dd-dragonlance-tv-series GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking: Joe Manganiello says the Dragonlance door will never close. GRANT BRICKMAN: Breaking news this evening. Joe Manganiello says he will never give up hope on his Dragonlance TV series. This just landed. GRETA FOOTNOTE: The show was cancelled several years ago. He told IGN at Lucca Comics and Games 2026 that the door will never close. ROXY: Roxy Reel at the drive-in. Five years of work, one cancelled series, and a hope that refuses to be cancelled. I'm already crying. ROXY: Our file footage shows a tabletop game night, pixel dice mid-roll. He was hired as showrunner and screenwriter for a live-action D&D adaptation. ROXY: He says the projects were put on the shelf after a change of leadership at Entertainment One. They became nobody's child, in his words. ROXY: His old boss from HBO, Michael Lombardo, hired him to create the next Game of Thrones. Then Lombardo was gone, and so was a producing partner. ROXY: He also teased a documentary. My rating for hope: four reels out of five. The fifth is waiting for a trailer. GRANT BRICKMAN: A cancelled show with a door that never closes. Greta, is that a hinge problem? GRETA FOOTNOTE: It's a hope problem, Grant. ## Ghostly statue of 'shrine maiden' discovered at 1,500-year-old burial mound in Japan (Live Science) https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ghostly-statue-of-shrine-maiden-discovered-at-1-500-year-old-burial-mound-in-japan GRETA FOOTNOTE: A ghostly clay priestess turns up at a 1,500-year-old Japanese burial mound. GRETA FOOTNOTE: Archaeologists in Japan have unearthed a ghostly human-shaped clay figure at a fifth-century burial mound. GRANT BRICKMAN: A statue of a shrine maiden. Greta, is she wearing the little hat? GRETA FOOTNOTE: The article doesn't say, Grant. It says the figure may represent a female shaman who guarded a tomb. NOVA: Nova Quark at the dig site. This figure is about 1,500 years old. In cosmic terms that's a blink, and I'm thrilled. NOVA: It was found at Nishikaminomiya, northwest of Tokyo, according to a translated statement from Gunma prefectural government. NOVA: File footage of the site: nearly a dozen burial mounds known as kofun, dated to the fifth and sixth centuries. DIRECTOR MARGE: Nova, we are off in thirty seconds. Wrap the shrine maiden. NOVA: The Kofun period ran from about A.D. 300 to 710. And the figure's look suggests a priestess who guarded the tomb. GRANT BRICKMAN: Guarding a tomb for 1,500 years. Now that's a night shift. I respect that. ## Pixels in Brief (PXL) GRANT BRICKMAN: Three quick headlines, one nightmare face. GRETA FOOTNOTE: Quick round. ScienceAlert revisits Loab, the nightmare face from 2022. Still no word on its newsletter preferences. GRETA FOOTNOTE: A former volunteer is suing the Skyblivion mod team, which seeks pro bono aid. Even mods now need lawyers. ## [AD · fictional product] Bumperly KAI: Oh, the Bumperly rolls, it hums, it glides, KAI: Huge cupholders on both sides! KAI: Charge it up with USB-C, KAI: Bumperly, the car for me! AI-written satire. The text of the news items comes from the linked articles.