It’ll rain fire and blood in House of the Dragon, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel to the Targaryen Dynasty.
Winter is coming and going on Game of Thrones, which ended its 8 seasons in May 2019. But HBO, of course, didn’t have to give up the biggest exhibition in its history. Even before the end of GOT, the network began to expand five possible derivatives of Game of Thrones. They landed on one of them: the Dragon House. And recent reports have shown that the screen is moving forward with a cast.
House of the Dragon had a winding path to existence. HBO first decided on a completely different task for a spin-off, taking a stand in the age of heroes. But after filming a pilot with Naomi Watts, this task was abandoned.
HBO then announced with amazement that it had moved on and ordered 10 episodes of House of the Dragon. The series is based on George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novel “Fire and Blood”, which tells the story of the reign of the Targaryen House, beginning with the conquest of Westeros through Aegon I Targaryen some three hundred years before the occasions of Game of Thrones.
Screenwriter Ryan Condal (Colony) and veteran Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik will act as co-showrunners. Sapochnik has directed hit episodes of Emmy-winning Hit of Thrones, Hardhome, The Long Night and Battle of the Bastards.
Here’s what we know about House of the Dragon so far.
House of the Dragon is not dated.
HBO announced the order for the series in October 2019. In late July 2020, the first rounds of casting began. But this still leaves many steps: filming, editing, visual effects. The latter can take a long time, as a series aimed at Targaryen will have to come with dragons.
“I guess it’s 2022,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys told Deadline in January 2020.
He added: “Obviously, it’s a great confusing spectacle.”
If it’s as confusing as Game of Thrones, this: Season 8 took nine months to film, then it took nine months to release. If House of the Dragon follows a similar calendar, then we have a release date around March or April 2022. That would really make a lot of sense, as almost every single season was created during the months.
HBO has begun building the cast of House of the Dragon. Several media outlets, Entertainment Weekly, have shown rumors of a casting call first broadcast through fan blogs such as Redanian Intelligence and Wertzone.
In addition, NSFW Recapped says HBO is releasing two female lead roles for House of Dragons. According to Tinheritor unsuperf’s report, the two roles are Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower. They are key characters from the Targaryan Civil War called Dance of the Dragons. Rhaenyra is the eldest daughter of King Viserys I of her first marriage, who believes she is the heir to her father. Alicent is the youngest wife of the king’s time, who needs her son to reign. It’s a literal game of thrones.
House of the Dragon takes position several hundred years before Game of Thrones. It is in Martin’s novel “Fire and Blood”, which tells the story of the reign of Targaryen space from the beginning. The story tells the conquest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros through Aegon I Targaryen.
Based on the casting call we mentioned earlier, it turns out that House of the Dragon will focus on a component component of Targaryen’s story. But there’s a lot of history to draw. Martin’s Fire – Blood covers a few hundred years of Targaryen’s history. He said in a blog post: “For what it’s worth, those who have read “Fire and Blood”will realize that it’s enough clothes for a dozen shows.”
One of the screens can also simply cover Aegon’s fiery two-year crusade to take Westeros using the ultimate weapon: his Dragon Balerion. (You may have noticed Balerion’s huge skull in the dungeons of King’s Landing in Game of Thrones). Along with Aegon are his sisters, Visenya and Rhaenys, and their dragons. These women are also their wives, as the Targaryen are known for their incest.
Meanwhile, the rulers of the overtaken Westeros come with Torrhen Stark, King of the North, and Loren I Lannister, King of the Rock. It was those battles that the fighters set Harrenhal on fire.
But Martin has already hinted on his blog that House of the Dragon would make a canopy of a seismic event: the Dragon Dance.
“If you need to know a little more about what the series will look like … Well, I can’t tear down the beans, but you may have to take a copy of two anthologies I made with Gardner Dozois, ‘DANGEREUX WOMEN’ [Tor Books, 2013] and ‘ROGUES’ [Bantam Spectra, 2014], then move on to the story of Archimaester Gyldayn, “FIRE-BLOOD,” Martin joked.
Fans without delay understood that Martin’s news in those two anthologies takes position before and the Dragon Dance, a bloody and brutal Civil War through Targaryen that takes position two hundred years before the occasions of Game of Thrones. (It is just over a century after the conquest of Aegon I.)
And the casting, if the reports are true, would be speculation.
The death of King Viserys I triggered a succession struggle between his daughter from his first marriage, Princess Rhaenyra, and his son from his marriage moment, Aegon II. Princess Shireen Baratheon told this story in an episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones.
“The brothers fought the brothers, the dragons fought the dragons,” he reminded his father, Stannis. “By the time it was over, thousands had died.
As Shireen pointed out, the confrontation wreaked havoc on the Targaryen, as almost all of their dragons died in the war. The beasts remained extinct for a century and a half, until Daenerys Targaryen incubated his three dragons in Game of Thrones.
House of the Dragon doesn’t have a trailer yet.
HBO can come with a mention of the series in the network’s teaser for the fall or 2021.
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