Dungeons & Dragons is primed for a major reinvention in 2026

2025 felt very light on storytelling. Instead of launching new narratives, Wizards spent much of the year stabilizing the ecosystem around the revised rules. February’s Monster Manual completed the core trilogy of resource books. Much later in the year, Forgotten Realms expansions Adventures in Faerûn and Heroes of Faerûn focused on rules, player options, and Dungeon Master resources. Wizards also experimented with smaller digital releases like Lorwyn: First Light and Astarion’s Book of Hungers — interesting projects, but not the kind of campaign-defining books that traditionally anchor a D&D year.The 2024 revision modernized how D&D functions. 2025 largely filled in the gaps. What’s missing is more ambition on the narrative side. So it’s understandable that fans might feel a bit uneasy going into 2026 without anything on the calendar yet. After a decade defined by steady releases and high-profile storytelling, D&D feels like it’s holding its breath. But a closer look at Wizards’ recent moves — from leadership changes and playtest patterns to how the company has historically revealed its plans — suggests the game itself is experiencing a kind of system reset.

And 2026 is shaping up to be the year Wizards of the Coast has to show what comes after all that’s complete.

The end of an era

Much of the uncertainty around D&D’s future can be traced back to the departures of Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, the two figures most closely associated with fifth edition’s creative voice. Perkins had been with Wizards of the Coast since 1997, while Crawford joined in 2007. Together, they oversaw the development of 5e, shepherding D&D through its most commercially successful era. Also together, they left Wizards in April 2025 to then join Critical Role’s Darrington Press that June, mere weeks after the launch of Critical Role’s Daggerheart, a TTRPG system that functions as an alternative to D&D.

Their departure also coincided with other changes at Wizards: Jess Lanzillo, who had served as vice president of franchise and product for Dungeons & Dragons working on brand strategy, left in June. That same day, Wizards laid off longtime video producer Todd Kenreck, who for years had been one of the most recognizable faces of D&D’s online presence.

Also, after laying off 90 percent of the staff working on Sigil, D&D’s ambitious 3D tabletop simulator, in March, Wizards officially suspended development on the project in late October.

Taken together, these changes looked, at least from the outside, like turbulence. But virtually all of the departures happened after major initiatives had concluded. The revised core rulebooks were completed and published in late 2024. The 50th anniversary campaign was over. 2024 was the end of an era and the start of a new one.

What Wizards of the Coast faces heading into 2026 is a leadership reset that raises a different, more important question. With so many of the voices that defined 5e no longer in the room, what does D&D look like now?

New voices at the table

Dan Ayoub, previously the senior vice president of digital games at Hasbro, became the new head of D&D in July. In a LinkedIn post at the time, he explained that the brand’s internal structure had radically changed.

“We shifted our structure internally and D&D moved to a full franchise model, meaning everything: books, video games, film, and TV – everything touching the franchise lives under one roof,” he wrote. “The impact here cannot be overstated; this is massive for D&D and will allow a strong, coordinated, and well-funded approach for the franchise, and most importantly, for us, the fans.”

Ayoub followed that up with a D&D Beyond blog post outlining his vision for D&D’s future. Rather than promising bold reveals or radical reinvention, Ayoub focused on fundamentals: nurturing a collaborative community and making resources like the Maps VTT easier to access. The post reads less like a hype announcement and more like a mission statement. Coming after months of leadership turnover, it frames D&D as a game entering a period of consolidation and trust-building, before whatever comes next.

In the back-half of 2025, Wizards has been staffing up the D&D team and bringing in designers with deep adventure-writing experience and strong ties to the broader tabletop community. Recent hires and promotions include James Haeck and Makenzie De Armas as senior game designers, Justice Arman as design director, and Leon Barillaro as game designer. As Wizards quietly rebuilds its D&D creative bench, the company obviously has plans for 2026. We just don’t know them yet — but there are some hints.

Reading the Unearthed Arcana tea leaves

For years now, D&D has used Unearthed Arcana (UA) as a sort of beta test for various mechanics, so depending on the themes surrounding the backgrounds and subclasses presented, you can usually get an inkling about the sort of content they’ll be used for. Some of them from the past year have predictably focused on modernizing various subclasses to be in line with the 2024 refresh, but others do hint at a few potential narrative directions.

A Horror-themed playtest released in 2025 revisited subclasses closely associated with Ravenloft, coinciding with major anniversaries for Curse of Strahd (10 years) and Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (five years). Whether that points to a reprint, a revision, or an entirely new horror-focused book, the timing feels intentional.

Even more significant is the Psion. Fifth edition has dabbled with psionic mind magic before, most notably in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, but it has never committed to a full class. Yet throughout 2025, UA released two playtest versions of the Psion class. There’s also material for four “Apocalyptic Subclasses.” Together, these UA playtests fueled speculation that D&D 5e might finally return to Dark Sun, a setting long associated with psionics and ecological collapse.

Wizards leadership has previously described Dark Sun as “problematic,” however, citing its heavy reliance on themes like slavery and exploitation. So any return to the setting would probably look and feel far more modern. Even if Dark Sun isn’t in the mix, however, a full class is a major design investment that hasn’t been done since Eberron: Rising from the Last War introduced the Artificer in 2019.

All of this UA content should get fully published in 2026, but the form it takes is the real mystery here.

So when will Wizards talk?

Historically, Wizards of the Coast doesn’t reveal major D&D releases too far in advance. The 2024 rules revision was announced in February, then rolled out later in the year. Heading into 2025, the Monster Manual was the only confirmed release until Wizards unveiled most of the slate in January.

Between the 2024 revamp and various staffing changes, the current silence around 2026 is less alarming than it appears. It feels possible, even likely, that Wizards of the Coast might host a D&D Direct livestream sometime in February or March. There’s also Gary Con in March and Gen Con in late July and early August, two major tabletop conventions that Wizards typically shows up to in a big way.

With the rules refreshed and leadership reset, Wizards of the Coast now has to answer the question fans care about most: what stories come next?