Another day, another game getting the TV treatment, but this one’s a biggie: Dungeons & Dragons owner Wizards of the Coast this week revealed Craig Mazin, showrunner on HBO’s divisive The Last of Us television adaptation, is turning his hand to Baldur’s Gate, and specifically continuing the story of Baldur’s Gate 3 on TV. Developer Larian’s fantasy RPG is, of course, a hugely beloved game, and responses to the news have been swift, strong, and not entirely positive. Feelings have also been floating around the Eurogamer office (well, it’s more of a chat room, but you get the point), and, thus, the embers of this week’s The Big Question were inflamed. This, for those of you new to these parts, is where we tackle a topical talking point from the week’s video gaming news before flinging it over to you. Let’s go!

Mazin hit the headlines back in 2019 for his award-winning work on HBO miniseries Chernobyl – a link that offered some assurance to The Last of Us fans when it was announced Mazin would be adapting Naughty Dog’s video game for TV. And that faith appeared to have been rewarded when HBO’s show landed to huge critical acclaim and commercial success in 2023. The response to Season 2, however, has been rather more mixed, and – related or not – what was initially planned as a four-season story arc now seems to have been truncated to three. Which is to say that Mazin’s attachment to the Baldur’s Gate TV series comes with some baggage, deserved or otherwise. Nor does it help that Larian won’t be involved in the show beyond a planned “chat” with Mazin. Feelings on this week’s announcement are divided to say the least.

For Eurogamer’s Connor Makar, though, it’s all a bad idea. “The problem with the HBO show,” he opines, “is that (as it appears to based quite closely on the ‘canon’ ending of Baldur’s Gate 3, focusing on the companions’ future etc.) it can’t help but annoy huge swathes of fans who envisioned the future differently – the fans who made other choices, and won’t recognize HBO’s Baldur’s Gate as their own.” And, yes, Connor counts himself in that number.

“For me,” he continues by way of example, “Karlach’s a squid now. She just is. There was a romantic thing going on, but in the epilogue when I saw the squid head I was like, sorry love, this won’t work out. So, as far as I’m concerned, she should be floating around all sad and inked up. I would bet hard cash that’s not how Karlach will appear in the show, though. She’ll be her red and popular self, immediately making my Baldur’s Gate false. They’ll make yours false too! I don’t know about you, but to me, that sucks.”

As for our Bertie – someone else who’s spent a lot of time making Baldur’s Gate 3 his own – the immediate response to HBO’s announcement was equally negative, but he’s slightly coming around. “I woke up hating the idea,” he says, “but I’ve softened a bit since. Look, Wizards of the Coast can presumably do what it likes with Baldur’s Gate now. Larian’s done its thing and is off making Divinity. The two have gone their separate ways. And as much as I love Baldur’s Gate 3 and feel protective over it, I can’t expect capitalism to keel over because I don’t want my experience tarnished by whatever comes next. Wizards could have asked Jerry Bruckheimer to adapt this but they haven’t. In the scheme of things, Mazin is a much better shout.”

“I’m reassured by how much of a nerd he seems to be,” Bertie continues. “He’s apparently got 1000 hours in Baldur’s Gate 3, which is a lot more than me, and I’m an actual self-identifying nerd. Where he finds the time, I don’t know – shouldn’t he have been improving the second season of The Last of Us or something? Don’t, Bertie, don’t. To me, it suggests he’s passionate about the game and that he cares, as does the fact he’s going to chat with Larian, to presumably show he’s not taking Baldur’s Gate in an atrocious direction.”

The choice to go with Mazin specifically is, of course, another sticking point for some, so I asked Eurogamer’s Victoria Phillips Kennedy – a self-confessed mega-fan of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us and a frequent watcher of the television show – how she felt about the Baldur’s Gate 3 news in the context of Mazin’s hiring. “I’ll admit I was a tad surprised,” she says. “Mazin’s Chernobyl and his The Last of Us adaptation – the work I have most knowledge of – are both largely grounded in a very gritty, realistic world, while Baldur’s Gate 3 is a fantastical cocktail of chaos, with dragons, spells, mindflayers and more.”

“Even so,” she continues, “I don’t think you can deny Mazin’s talent. And as someone who – for the first season at least – thought his work adapting The Last of Us was exemplary (season two isn’t bad, I just don’t think it’s up to quality of the first), I guess I’m hopeful he’ll do the same for Baldur’s Gate 3, and treat the game fans love with respect and authenticity. And yes, I know Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann was heavily involved with The Last of Us, and not having Larian joining in with Baldur’s Gate 3 is undoubtedly a shame. But, Druckmann wasn’t part of Chernobyl, and I think that’s one of the greatest TV shows this side of the millennium.”

But for all the skepticism surrounding the Baldur’s Gate 3 TV show at this early juncture, Bertie reckons there’s potentially reason to be excited too. “Secretly, I’m quite jazzed – do people say jazzed? – at the prospect of seeing the Baldur’s Gate setting in glossy cinematic detail on our TV screens,” he says. “This isn’t an exclusive-to-BG3 setting after all, but a Dungeons & Dragons setting detailed and expanded over decades of collaborative development. The creative opportunities here are huge – it’s an enormous and very detailed playground.”

And while I’m undoubtedly absolutely the worse person to be sticking my opinion into this discussion given I’ve only had chance to play a couple of hours of Baldur’s Gate 3 and am very much of the opinion Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us isn’t All That, I kind of think Bertie’s onto something here. I always thought the first season of Mazin’s The Last of Us adaptation was at its best when it didn’t feel completely beholden to its source material; when it felt freer to scribble outside of Naughty Dog’s previously defined lines. So I’m kind of curious to see what Mazin – as a clearly skilled writer and fan of Baldur’s Gate – can do in a bigger sandbox, when he’s not so tightly constrained. As Bertie puts it, “Where Mazin will decide to go with the series, I don’t know, but as the 2023 Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves film showed, there is, potentially, great entertainment to be found.”

So with us lot out the way, it’s your go. Do you think continuing the story of Baldur’s Gate 3 is a futile – and misguided – pursuit, given the show can’t possibly satisfy a loyal fanbase who all have very different, very personal memories of the game? Is Larian’s absence from the project also a concern? Or perhaps Mazin has earned your trust, and maybe you’re just excited to see him play around in a sandbox with so much potential, where a whole new bunch of stories are waiting to be told? Will you be tuning in? That’s The Big Question, and now over to you!