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HBO Isn’t Scared of Game of Thrones vs. LOTR Competition

Content chief at HBO, Casey Bloys, emphasises his lack of concern as to House of the Dragon potentially having to compete against LOTR and Halo.

Casey Bloys, the content chief over at HBO, has confirmed that the company isn’t worried about the prospect of airing the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon near the premieres of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power or Paramount’s Halo adaptation. Set two hundred years before the events that take place in its parent show, and based on George R.R. Martin’s 2018 novel Fire and Blood, the series will chart the tumultuous history and gradual fall of House Targaryen, the ancestors of Daenerys, Mother of Dragons. It is the first of a number of planned spinoffs based on Game of Thrones and Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books.

Created by Martin and Ryan J. Condal, House of the Dragon will feature an all-star cast including Paddy Considine, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, and Matt Smith. However, despite the high anticipation surrounding the spinoff series, House of the Dragon has notable competition in not being the only epic, high-budget show to stream this year. Amazon’s The Rings of Power, a prequel based on J. R. R. Tolkien’s seminal fantasy novels, is scheduled to premiere on September 2. But before that, Paramount+ is due to release their blockbuster adaptation of Microsoft’s record-breaking video game franchise Halo on March 24.

Although House of the Dragon has just wrapped filming, HBO has provided no set release date for the upcoming fantasy show other than a vague promise that it will be sometime later this year. This has sparked speculation regarding whether the series will be competing for ratings with the equally anticipated The Rings of Power or Halo, depending on when it eventually releases. However, Bloys confirms in an interview with THR that the company is not worried “about what other people have airing” and that “we’ll premiere it when we premiere it“:

A good operating principal is not to worry too much about what other people have airing and to keep your eyes on your own work. I feel very good about House of the Dragon and we’ll premiere it when we premiere it.

Bloys remains notably secretive in providing much information about the prequel fantasy series, even regarding when they will release House of the Dragon’s forthcoming trailer other than it will be unveiled “soon.” It’s evident, however, that he’s confident the upcoming show will do extremely well regardless of when HBO decides to set the premiere date. And although he highlights the importance of seeing how well the show does initially before committing to anything further, he also claims there’s a “good shot that House of the Dragon will get a season 2”.

Many fans desperate to find out when House of the Dragon will first hit HBO will likely be somewhat frustrated by Bloys’ continued refusal to announce a date for them to put in their calendars. But even so, the fact that he feels “very good about House of the Dragon” may be a cause for relief for skeptics who felt underwhelmed by the final season of Game of Thrones in 2019. And given that The Rings of Power is on track to become the most expensive TV series ever produced and that fans have been eagerly awaiting a Halo adaptation for years, Bloys’ unshakeable confidence despite the heavy competition is likely based on the enduring legacy of Game of Thrones as one of the most successful TV shows of all time.

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