HBO Announces the Game of Thrones Prequel The House of Dragon

The Long Night gets cancelled. The Targaryens win again.

The fantasy world of Game of Thrones is one step closer to returning to television, as HBO gave the green light to House of the Dragon, a prequel from the original hit show delving into the family history of dragon-riding queen Daenerys Targaryen.

 

Details about the series were announced Tuesday at an investor event by AT&T and WarnerMedia, HBO’s parent, committed to launching HBO Max, the company’s expected streaming service to release next year.

Even a Game of Thrones news announcement couldn’t get through without a surprise twist. Reports earlier, Tuesday, said that HBO was pulling the plug on another prequel for the Game of Thrones, which already started production. The series had filmed an episode of pilot starring Naomi Watts and other well-known artists. It was to be set thousands of years before Daenerys and Jon Snow’s saga in the early years of the First People, White Walkers and Children of the Forest.

 

House of the Dragon is based on the Fire and Blood book of George R.R. Martin and is set 300 years prior to Game of Thrones It is co-created by GRRM and Ryan Condal, a writer and producer known for Rampage, Colony and Hercules. Miguel Sapochnik, who won an Emmy for his directing on Game of Thrones, is producing and directing it. He’s known for some of Game of Thrones unforgettable, intense, battle episodes, like Battle of the Bastards and The Long Night.

#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

Reports say the new series of Fire and Blood is a second attempt to adapt Martin’s books after an initial attempt by former Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman to adapt the novel that HBO passed on.

 

Of course, Fire and Blood is … another option for a GoT prequel. Unlike the Goldman series (The Long Night), Fire and Blood chronicles the 300 years directly preceding the Game of Thrones events but there are a couple of issues with Fire and Blood. The first is that it is unfinished; Martin has written only the first of two planned volumes in the series. And as anyone who has watched the end of Game of Thrones now knows, it’s a difficult prospect to adapt an unfinished Martin series. Another issue is that reports say that the book is boring, of course the showrunners could tweak it a bit to make it as thrilling and exciting the previous series but then there’s this another issue that the story is quite long making it a challenge to be converted to a TV series.

 

It’s all still in the early stages. The article also states that the pilot is still being planned, which is not a guarantee of any kind. And even if a pilot is filmed, there is no guarantee that with a full series, HBO will actually move on. But with Martin attached to the pitch, and the sheer amount of money involved in the Game of Thrones brand, it wouldn’t shock if Fire and Blood would end up on our TV screens in a couple of years.