Sony Pictures has acquired the live-action film rights to D’orc, Brett Bean’s half-dwarf, half-orc fantasy comedy from Image Comics, and Bean is attached to write the adaptation himself. Deadline broke the news on October 19, 2026, eight and a half months after the first issue hit comic shops and kicked off one of the year’s wildest reprint runs.
The deal
Bean writes and draws the comic, and he will write the screenplay too. He shared the news on Threads after Deadline’s report went up. Deadline pitched the property as swashbuckling comedy built on a big magical mythology, lots of creatures, and gritty fantasy action.
That is about all that is public right now. Sony has not attached a director, set a production start, or named any cast. Comic Book Club Live described the deal as an option, which is how most comic-to-film deals begin: Sony gets the exclusive right to develop the movie for a set period, but an option on its own does not guarantee a film gets made.
Bean is represented by ChengCaplan Company, InkWell Management, and Alexander Lawrence.
What D’orc is about
D’orc is an orphan who is half dwarf and half orc, living in Sunderaine, a world stuck in an endless war between the Light and the Dark. A prophecy in the Book of Certain Doom says he will end the world, so wizards, warriors, elves, goblins, and creatures with names like the Snargletooth and the Trauma Llama all want him dead. His only companions are a shield with a giant talking eyeball that is far more eager to fight than he is, and the ghost of a chicken that had its head cut off.
Image’s marketing pitches it as a cross between Bone, The Dark Crystal, Discworld, and Monty Python. Bean spent years as the artist on Skottie Young’s I Hate Fairyland, and D’orc carries the same cartoony violence. Colorist Jean-François Beaulieu came over from I Hate Fairyland as well, and Nate Piekos (Minor Threats) handles letters.
In a January interview with Comics Bulletin, Bean said the character is loyal and good natured but carries a temper that scares even him. Robert Kirkman’s cover blurb for the first issue ends with “Don’t be a dork, buy D’orc!”
The Dungeon Crawler Carl connection
Crawlers have a reason to keep an eye on this one. Bean is one of the artists on Vault Comics’ original Dungeon Crawler Carl graphic novel, written by Michael Moreci with series creator Matt Dinniman, and Dinniman blurbed D’orc #1 as the best new comic he had read in a long time. The Beat’s coverage of the Sony deal figured the two hits are likely boosting each other’s sales.
Getting it to live action
The hard part of the adaptation is the creature roster. D’orc’s world runs on Bean’s exaggerated cartoon designs, and a talking eyeball shield and a headless ghost chicken have to work next to real actors. Bean has a head start there: before D’orc he worked for Marvel and for Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, so he has creature-shop experience to bring to the conversation about practical effects versus CGI. He also writes and illustrates the Zoo Patrol Squad graphic novels and the Muk ‘n’ Honey books.
D’orc joins a wave of indie fantasy comics heading to the screen. Vault’s Barbaric is also getting the live-action treatment, at Netflix
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