The Game of Thrones world is about to get much bigger. On Tuesday, HBO officially announced that it has given a straight-to-series order for House of the Dragon, an upcoming Thrones prequel series. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, the series, which is set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, tells the story of House Targaryen. This comes after a Targaryen-centric prequel was initially announced to be in development in September of this year.
.@HBO announces series order for HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, a @GameofThrones prequel series co-created by Ryan Condal and @GRRMspeaking, with Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik to partner as showrunners: https://t.co/ccpvVRqmux pic.twitter.com/CPolhMfWiI
— HBO PR (@HBOPR) October 29, 2019
“The Game of Thrones universe is so rich with stories,” Casey Bloys, president, HBO programming, said in a statement. “We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George.”
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Miguel Sapochnik, who helmed the Thrones episodes “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Long Night”, will direct the pilot and additional episodes. Colony showrunner Ryan Condal and Sapochnik will partner as showrunners on the series, which will be written by Condal.
“I do want to point out that “moving closer to a pilot order” is NOT the same thing as “getting a pilot order.”” series author George R.R. Martin said when the potential series was first announced last month. “Would that it were. This is encouraging, this is exciting, but don’t buy the couch just yet. When HBO actually gives us a pilot order, you will hear me shouting it from the rooftops. A series order, and I’ll be shouting even louder. But we’ll see. Right now all the signs are good, but nothing is confirmed.”
This news comes just hours after another Thrones prequel series, which had filmed a pilot earlier this year, was announced to not be moving forward on HBO. This prequel was set to take place thousands of years before the events of the main Game of Thrones series, dealing with issues of power, race, and the introduction of the White Walkers. The cast of the prequel included Naomi Watts, Josh Whitehouse, Miranda Richardson, Jamie Campbell Bower, Toby Regbo, Georgie Henley, Alex Sharp, Naomi Ackie, Marquis Rodriguez, John Simms, Richard McCabe, John Heffernan, and Dixie Egerickx.
What do you think of House of the Dragon moving forward in a major way on HBO? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
