House of the Dragon Showrunners Address Biggest Change to Storytelling From Game of Thrones

House of the Dragon showrunners says that the biggest change to their storytelling is the lack of an existential threat. Starting from an earlier point means that “winter is coming” exists as a memory in fans’ minds, not necessarily a hard and fast rule. Ryan Condal spoke to Comicbook.com about the challenges of handling a prequel to something as meteoric as Game of Thrones. All across social media you saw people talking about “Winter” and the Night King as the character emerged as threat. But, what happens when that kind of mythology isn’t there from the word go? It becomes much more open-ended, and maybe the narrative can catch some people off-guard. (Not that Game of Thrones has had a problem with that department during its history.) Check out what the showrunner said right here.

“Well, I think honestly, I think it makes it a more, complex story. And I don’t think you could have started here. I think that we’re standing on the benefit of the the shoulders of that towering original series, and being able to play off of that,” Condal explained. “But if, you know, if we came back and there was another you know, the White Walkers are back or there’s a, you know there’s a dark threat from across, you know, in Asshai or something, something like that. 

“It would just, it would have that kind of rehashed sort of feeling to it. I think that the compelling thing here is to tell a really dramatic Shakespearean tragedy that doesn’t rely on the big bad,” the showrunner mentioned. “The big bad actually is within. And it changes as, yeah, as you go move along through the story, because you will have feelings of that’s a hero and that’s a villain and oh, no, now he’s the villain and he’s the hero, as you see the timeline unfold, so I think, I just think it’s a more adult story.” 

“I mean, what I always say is Empire Strikes Back could not have been, existed without A New Hope, and A New Hope had the Death Star. Empire strikes back is this tiny little family drama of these friends that essentially go on the run from the Empire,” he added. “And yeah, Darth Vader is still there, but you don’t have that looming, big bad to carry you through it. But it’s an intensely interesting drama, as a result. And a lot of people actually like it better than the original, but it couldn’t exist without A New Hope.”

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