From writers and directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the epic fantasy adventure, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, is now available to purchase on Digital from Paramount. Before the 4K Ultra SteelBook and Blu-ray, and DVD hit the shelves on May 30, Collider’s Steve Weintraub spoke with the filmmakers about what fans can expect as far as extras go.

Honor Among Thieves takes the classic tabletop game of Dungeons & Dragons and brings it to life with spectacular practical effects and an ensemble cast starring Chris Pine, Hugh Grant, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, and Sophia Lillis. Like the game, Daley and Goldstein introduce us to a world come-to-life of dragons, hob goblins, aaracokra, and stunning Bards with a ragtag team of misfits, hunting down an artifact that may aid them in stopping the end of the world as they know it.

During their interview, Daley and Goldstein talk about the tons of behind-the-scenes featurettes included with the Blu-ray, with all of their extra footage filmed by a professional documentary crew. They talk Jarnathan and his backstory, Themberchaud plushies, and Edgin’s moving Champion of Failures speech. The directing duo also tease their next project and more.

COLLIDER: I have a million questions, but before we get into it, you guys know I'm a fan of your work. Have you figured out what you're directing next?

JOHN FRANCIS DALEY: Very good question. We are circling something that I don't think we can say at this point, but it should be out there relatively soon.

JONATHAN GOLDSTEIN: Yeah, it's an original project of ours.

I have a few friends who are producers who I know have been trying to get you guys, so I was curious what you were going to say yes to.

GOLDSTEIN: [Laughs] Yeah, we always favor our own script.

The Blu-ray is coming out soon, home video release. What are you guys actually most excited for fans to see on the home video release?

DALEY: Leading up to the release of the film, and I think in the first week that it was out, John and I both posted a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that we shot with our phones. A lot of the animatronic and practical effects work that got huge responses from people, specifically Jarnathan (Clayton Grover), our aaracokra. And I think people will be pleasantly surprised to see that there's a lot of that in our behind the scenes featurettes.

GOLDSTEIN: And we had a documentary film crew on set because we couldn't have, you know, it was press days, given the COVID restrictions. So instead, we just created a lot of behind-the-scenes content, stuff that I, as a kid, would have loved to see because it's that kind of movie. It's the CG, the practical effects, prosthetic makeup, all that, and the wire work and stunts. It's a ton of fun and there's, like, I don't know, maybe closer to an hour and 40 minutes, or something, of material.

DALEY: I think maybe even more than that, and each featurette focuses on the different facets of what went into it. You know, the costumes, the armory, all of the weapons that were designed, as well as our production designer, Ray Chan, kind of leading the viewer through the multiple sets that he built that are so insanely cool.

People on the staff, and also on Twitter, asked, why is there no Jarnathan merchandise?

GOLDSTEIN: That's a good question.

DALEY: That is for the brand holders to answer. You know, we also were like, “Guys, we think Themberchaud as a plushie…” and granted, they did make a Themberchaud plushie, but I feel like there was too much emphasis on Rakor, the acid-spewing dragon, and not enough on our big, chonky friend.

I agree. Jarnathan really took off on social media, and it's a character that everyone loves. Did you guys come up with a backstory? Is there more to know?

GOLDSTEIN: [Laughs] We can generate one, but no. We love the idea that in this world it doesn't matter if you're a birdman or a cat person, or whatever it is, you can be a noble, you can be on this sort of elite council of elders. It's completely irrelevant what your species is. And then he comes in and he's got this British accent, and to us, there's nothing funnier.

DALEY: He's a very civilized character, and that to us is what's so funny because he looks absolutely absurd and has the stupidest name in the world.

[Laughs] I gotta leave that alone. Edgin’s champion of failure speech is so good. Can you talk about filming that scene and coming up with that speech?

DALEY: Yeah, that was sort of our, in industry terms, the “all is lost” moment where each of our characters have basically failed in some way, and they're all ready to throw in the towel. And Edgin, who is very much a Bard, and is a cheerleader for our group, kind of highlights what makes each of them so, so messed up, and quote-unquote a failure, but why, because of that, they can never stop failing.

We knew we wanted to have this kind of motivational speech from Edgin in that moment, but one that felt somewhat subversive and not your typical, generic motivational speech that you hear in these types of films. It was shot on stage, it was all indoors. A lot of our night shoots we choose to shoot indoors so that our actors aren't falling asleep between takes.

GOLDSTEIN: Yeah, that beach location was several hours from Belfast and we would have had to either stay over or drive the cast back and forth, and do that at night on the beach, and it just felt like not worth it. So we set them in a place where you don't see too much of the ocean, a bit of sky, and I don't think it took people out.

DALEY: And Chris just nailed it. It was one of those moments where I remember Jonathan and I looking at each other and thinking, “Wow, this guy is really special.” You know, there are very few actors that can pull off something where saying things that are funny, saying things that are motivational and touching, and also he's got tears in his eyes by the end of it because he's recalling all of the mistakes he's made that have led to, you know, his family essentially falling apart. So, it's a real juggling act to be able to pull that off in a way that feels authentic.

Oh, I completely agree. Chris is a fantastic actor and I don't think he gets enough credit for the way he can deliver performances in different genres.

DALEY: I agree.

GOLDSTEIN: And do comedy in such a fun and unexpected way because when you're that good-looking, you have to work twice as hard to be funny because people wanna hate.

DALEY: [Laughs] That's right, that's true.

I think we talked about this at the screening, but I love learning about deleted scenes. I know the Blu-ray has deleted and extended scenes. How many deleted scenes are actually on the disk if you know, and did you leave stuff out, or is it like all the deleted scenes you put in?

GOLDSTEIN: I think we left out some pretty unimportant bits and pieces, but it's got, I don't know, John, what, like, eight, ten?

DALEY: Something like that. I couldn't give you an exact number, but a substantial amount. And some scenes that are really informative of character. There's like a scene where Holga is confronted by members of her former tribe who essentially berate her for her choice to kind of leave the tribe because she was with Marlamin. And it's just a nice sad and sweet moment for her where we get to see her vulnerability early on in the film.

GOLDSTEIN: As you know, pace is everything in a film like this, or many films. And so we have to make that tough decision, like, is this worth the time? Because the audience, at a certain point, starts to want to get into the story, get into the meat of the tale, and so everything that keeps you from getting there–

DALEY: Especially in the first act.

GOLDSTEIN: So, it's hard and, you know, you could argue that you lose a little something with those, but someone gave us the advice early, especially in comedy, to sacrifice your B material to make your A material shine even more.

DALEY: The film is over two hours, and while I think that pace-wise we're really happy with it, and I honestly can't think of anything else to cut, a slim movie is definitely our goal at all times.

Is it one of these things where the deleted scenes are scenes where you're proud of all of them, or did you debate putting some of these on the Blu-ray?

GOLDSTEIN: They were things that made it probably into quite a few cuts. If we cut it real early on because we knew it didn't work, that's not something we need to share necessarily. For a little example, when the hob goblin arrives in the beginning of the movie, we wanted to establish just how bloodthirsty and dangerous he is, and so you saw that he killed the other prisoner who was in that wagon with him, that sleigh. But, it didn't quite translate on the film. We had this guy with a prosthetic that looked like his head was twisted backwards, it wasn't quite playing, and so, you know, that went to the cutting room floor.

DALEY: And it had a joke in it, too, where he says to the guard, when we revealed this guy with the head twisted 180 degrees, he says, “Must have hit a bump.” And we also decided that for the hob goblin to have a sense of humor might actually kind of undercut what is so menacing about him. And we also decided, let's let's save all the jokes for when we meet Edgin, so that we're really kind of immersed in this grim, dreary fantasy world, and then pull the rug out when we finally meet our main characters.

I have to ask you, I read that you guys wrote Vacation Friends 2, is that true?

DALEY: No.

GOLDSTEIN: Vacation Friends 2? No, we had nothing to do with it.

DALEY: For a brief while we were attached to direct Vacation Friends, early, early on in the process before it found its cast or anything like that. And then, we ended up leaving to do Game Night. But it was a script that we had written that was then rewritten. So a lot of our our jokes were in there, and it's a really funny movie, I was a fan of it.

GOLDSTEIN: Are they making a sequel this year?

Yeah, it comes out this year. I saw your names on IMDB with the sequel. I'm like, “Wait, what?”

GOLDSTEIN: Don't believe everything you see on IMDB.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is available to purchase on Digital now. The 4K Ultra Blu-ray and DVD will be available beginning May 30. For more on the film, here's our interview with them from before the movie was released.