Why ‘House Of The Dragon’? And What To Expect From The Game Of Thrones Spin-Off
Many agree with this approach too, seeing that Game of Thrones began losing its edge as soon as the TV show diverted from the books.
If you remember, HBO was preparing to work on different spin-offs for Game of Thrones. Back then, season 8 wasn’t released yet, and Game of Thrones hadn’t received much controversy over the final season. HBO had worked on a course for the prequel series that would center itself around the ancestors of Daenerys Targaryen. So even with a pilot getting filmed, HBO President Casey Bloys explained why the first Game of Thrones spin-off was cancelled.
We’ll get to that, but you should know that Jane Goldman was going to be involved, a cast with celebrities like Naomi Watts, Naomi Ackie from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, as well as Miranda Richardson, who has received several Academy Award nominations, Oscar nominations, several BAFTA nominations, and winner of the supporting actress BAFTA award.
A pilot, an amazing screenwriter, and cast, yet it got cancelled, and HBO did not comment on the reasons why this happened until Casey Bloys stepped in and exclaimed: “Jane Goldman was a significant change because there was too much invention.”
The prequel that will be worked on titled House of the Dragon, has text and history for that time, it has details that can be worked on, an understandable story that can easily be transformed into a successful series. Many agree with this approach too, seeing that Game of Thrones began losing its edge as soon as the TV show diverted from the books.
So it’s understandable, George R.R. Martin has dedicated years to writing this amazing saga, and such source material is not easy to do on such quick notice.
House of the Dragon, for instance, is the story of a book called Fire and Blood. It focuses in tremendous detail on the history of House Targaryen over three hundred years before the events in Game of Thrones took place.
Aside from the lack of text material, the budget needed to do the other prequel would have been too extravagant, even for Game of Thrones.
It’s too soon to tell, but for the time being, HBO’s Casey Bloys has confirmed that House of the Dragon would air sometime in 2022.
So what should we expect from House of the Dragon
Nothing for two more years at least… Many viewers have moved to binge-watch other shows, but there’s no denying the brilliant writing and storytelling that viewers undoubtedly miss in the first seasons of Game of Thrones. Recently, HBO has shared some information about the new spin-off, which was created by George R.R. Martin and Ryan J. Condal.
Some geography was shared, namely: Dragonstone, Slaver’s Bay, Valyria, Summerhall, and Crownlands. The series will also contain 10 episodes.
Another important detail is that unlike GOT which is based on the narrative book A Song of Ice and Fire, this new show will be based on Fire and Blood, which is more like a Targaryen history book than a story. So there’s no risk of overlapping details or conflicting stories between the book and the show.
The book is supposed to be made up of two volumes, yet only the first volume has been released to date. HBO has enough material for a few seasons, yet only 10 episodes have been announced so far.
Some are theorizing that the entire book might be the subject of the series, while others think it might focus primarily on Aegon Targaryen’s conquest, or Dance of the Dragons, which has by far the most relevant theme to that of GOT, civil war, and heroes and villains on every side of the war.
With dragons being the leading force behind every Targaryen, we can safely assume that we will be seeing them again.
We’ll also see a lot from Miguel Sapochnik, a director who became popularized by his first two Game of Thrones episodes: The Gift and Hardhome, with the latter being one of the best episodes in the entire series.
He was not, however, present during Season 7 as he was busy helming the pilot episode for Netflix’s Altered Carbon. Sapochnik also directed Battle of the Bastards, The Winds of Winter, The Long Night, and The Bells, all crucial episodes in the series.
House of the Dragon is the first time Sapochnik will work as showrunner for a series, and subsequently the first project in his “overall deal where he will develop and produce content for both HBO and HBO Max,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
