The Underdark may soon return to the centre of Dungeons & Dragons. Recent playtest material and announcements surrounding a new creator-led initiative have fuelled speculation about a future adventure or setting book dedicated to the game’s subterranean realms.
The possibility first emerged through the Underdark Options Unearthed Arcana playtest. The material includes subclasses and lore connected to the deep realms, suggesting that the location could feature in a future official release.
A second clue came during the Gen Con 2026 D&D Vision Keynote. Actor and producer Joe Manganiello has joined the D&D team to lead D&D Icons, a project intended to bring prominent creators from the game’s history together for original products.
The announced contributors include Dragonlance writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Greyhawk expert Luke Gygax, son of Gary Gygax, and author R.A. Salvatore. Weis and Hickman are attached to a Dragonlance book, while Gygax is working on Greyhawk. Salvatore’s project has not been identified.
That gap has encouraged speculation. Salvatore has written 40 novels that helped define the Underdark and its drow, most notably through the adventures of the ranger Drizzt Do’Urden. A new Underdark product shaped by Salvatore would also fit the apparent interest in established settings and long-running characters behind the D&D Icons concept.
Why the Underdark remains important to D&D
Across D&D settings, the Underdark is a vast world beneath the surface. It is known as the Underdark in the Forgotten Realms, Underoerth or Deepearth in Greyhawk, and Khyber in Eberron.
The location first appeared in one of Gary Gygax’s early adventures, Hall of the Fire Giant King in 1978. It later became central to the D-series of adventure modules, which formed part of the broader Queen of the Spiders storyline. Douglas Niles provided the first detailed description and used the name Underdark in the 1986 Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide.
Its appeal comes from the combination of danger and discovery. The subterranean environment offers few safe settlements, reliable places to rest or friendly communities. Even the ecosystem can threaten an adventuring party, while the strange geography and isolated cultures create a setting that feels unfamiliar without abandoning classic fantasy adventure.
Several well-known D&D creatures originate there, including beholders and mind flayers. The region is also home to powerful societies such as the drow and duergar, the latter often described as a dwarven counterpart to the dark elves.
Salvatore, Drizzt and Menzoberranzan
Although Salvatore’s first trilogy, The Icewind Dale Trilogy, takes place away from the Underdark, it introduced Drizzt in The Crystal Shard in 1988. The character was initially conceived as a supporting figure for the barbarian Wulfgar, but his popularity led to The Dark Elf Trilogy, which explored his origins and offered a defining literary version of the Underdark.
Salvatore’s portrayal drew on Gygax’s descriptions of the drow in the first Monster Manual and his Greyhawk adventures. At its centre is Menzoberranzan, a city controlled by competing noble Houses. Each House is led by a high priestess devoted to Lolth, the Queen of Spiders, whose authority over drow society was later revised as the setting’s treatment of dark elves became more nuanced.
The popularity of those stories helped keep the Underdark prominent for generations of readers and players. D&D has returned to the region many times, most recently with the fifth-edition campaign Out of the Abyss in 2015. That adventure challenges players to escape the drow while surviving a demonic invasion.
What could the next Underdark product be?
A decade has passed since Out of the Abyss, and the current playtest material points towards another visit. However, recent D&D design trends make a huge campaign in the same style seem less likely than a broader setting-focused release.
One possibility is a dedicated campaign setting with new character options, a gazetteer covering locations and inhabitants, and perhaps a shorter adventure. That format would align more closely with recent D&D books than a single, sprawling narrative campaign.
D&D Icons may not follow the usual approach. Manganiello has indicated that the initiative will give its creators considerable creative freedom, although the practical meaning of that promise remains unknown.
The playtest’s attention to Deep Imaskar provides another possible direction. This relatively unexplored city lies in the lowest reaches of the Underdark and is associated with a new type of magic called “unlight”. According to the material, the city’s original settlers used unlight to create a refuge from the hostile world below, while a Great Seal protects the settlement.
The decision to name and expand on unlight may indicate that Deep Imaskar has a larger role planned. A story-driven book set there could explore a less familiar section of the Underdark rather than revisiting only the best-known drow cities.
Salvatore would be an obvious choice for such a project, but that remains speculation. It is not yet clear how D&D Icons will connect with the game’s main product line, or what Salvatore’s contribution will be. For players ready to descend into dangerous caverns, however, the prospect of a new Underdark adventure is already significant.
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