‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel ‘House of the Dragon’ Headed to HBO Max
When one door shuts, another one opens. After the surprising cancellation of The Long Night (which completed filming on the pilot episode to presumably unsatisfactory results), HBO is ordering another Game of Thrones spin-off – entitled House of the Dragon – for a full season.
Announced last night at the HBO Max blowout reveal was that the future (or rather, past) of the Game of Thrones world would continue with House of the Dragon. (It appears as though this show will be coming to HBO itself, rather than their new streaming service.) The show will be based on A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin’s prequel book, Fire and Blood, which covers much of the history of House Targaryen. Martin will be co-creating the series alongside Ryan Condal, and both are writing the project. In spite of being presented as part of the HBO Max conference, the show seems to be headed to HBO proper.
The official Game of Thrones Twitter page highlighted the announcement of the new series in the announcement below:
#HouseOfTheDragon, a #GameofThrones prequel is coming to @HBO.
The series is co-created by @GRRMSpeaking and Ryan Condal. Miguel Sapochnik will partner with Condal as showrunner and will direct the pilot and additional episodes. Condal will be writing the series. pic.twitter.com/9ttMzElgXm
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) October 29, 2019
More recently, The Hollywood Reporter has added more details about the nature of the series, which was developed by regular Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman before he left to work on The Lord of the Rings for Amazon Prime. HBO has ordered ten episodes for the first season of the show, the pilot of which will be directed by Game of Thrones Miguel Sapochnik, who is also expected to direct other episodes of the show’s first season. Sapochnik will serve as co-showrunner alongside Condal, and the series will be executive produced by Vince Gerardis. As an adaptation of Fire and Blood, House of the Dragon begins roughly 300 years before the events of the first season of Game of Thrones and covers a long span of history, starting with King Aegon Targaryen I’s conquest of Westeros and subsequent coronation, and concluding with the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war that devastated Westeros about 130 years later.
Greenlighting House of the Dragon straight to series suggests that HBO is highly confident in the story, and perhaps significantly more so than they were with The Long Night. It’s currently unclear if the ten-episode order will cover this entire, massive span of history, but it seems likely that if this is meant to be the main replacement for Game of Thrones, then the series should probably last for multiple seasons. Fire and Blood also has an unreleased second volume that will be hitting much, much later in the future, so perhaps HBO will adapt that as a separate series years from now when and if it is released. As it stands, Martin has reiterated that he is dedicated to completing his lineup of Westeros-related books, including the last two installments of A Song of Ice and Fire, but he’s also taken a very long time on a series that he initially hoped to complete before the final season of Game of Thrones even aired.
House of the Dragon is in development at HBO.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
