It’s been a whirlwind of news surrounding ‘Game Of Thrones.’ First it was announced that the original showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were not going to make their announced ‘Star Wars’ trilogy. Then it was announced that the ‘Game of Thrones’ HBO prequel spin-off starring Naomi Watts was not moving forward, after there were issues with the pilot. But then, rising from the ashes, it was officially announced that a new prequel, ‘House of the Dragon’ has officially been given a straight-to-series order.
Check out the tweet below from the ‘Game of Thrones’ Twitter account, revealing the poster:
#HouseOfTheDragon, a #GameofThrones prequel is coming to @HBO.
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) October 29, 2019
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
‘House of the Dragon’ will focus on the Targaryen family, 300 years before Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen ascended to power. It will be based off of the short story ‘Fire & Blood’ that was written by George R.R. Martin, who is also co-creator and co-writer of ‘House of the Dragon.’
HBO programming president Casey Bloys also gave a statement:
“The ‘Game of Thrones’ universe is so rich with stories. We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George.”
Ryan Condal, the co-writer of ‘Rampage’ as well as the creator and showrunner of ‘Colony,’ will serve as co-creator, co-writer, and co-showrunner with Miguel Sapochnik, who directed six episodes of the flagship series. The season will consist of ten episodes.
Sapochnick, who won an Emmy for helming the ‘Game of Thrones’ episode “Battle of the Bastards,” will also direct the pilot, as well as additional episodes in the season. The other five episodes he has directed are ‘The Gift,’ ‘Hardhome,’ ‘The Winds of Winter,’ ‘The Long Night,’ and ‘The Bells.’
The announcement of ‘House of the Dragon’ comes at interesting time. ‘Game of Thrones’ and the people involved have been in the news a lot recently. It seems that this is a calculated announcement to change the conversation. But, this series has also been in the works by Martin and Condal since 2018, when the two took over from ‘Thrones’ alum Bryan Cogman, after his take on the material did not move forward. Last month, the show was nearing a pilot order.
There is no word on when ‘House of the Dragon’ will premiere, but it is being fast tracked. It is not taking the usual path that HBO pilots usually take. However, April 2021 would seem like the ideal premiere slot.
Source: Twitter
Jacob Tyler contributed to this article.