Why is HOTD’s Ryan Condal still adjusting to the nature of work? HBO is going back to the Game of Thrones well with House of the Dragon, a prequel series set roughly 200 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen, in the hopes that a large audience would follow along.

In just a few hours, House of the Dragon will be released, exposing the truth behind the bloody civil war depicted in George R. R. Martin’s Fire and Blood. House Targaryen starts strong in the first season, but King Viserys’s choice of his eldest daughter Rhaenyra as his successor is swiftly called into question.

Ryan J. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik devised HBO’s House of the Dragon fantasy action series. When asked about when they got started on House of the Dragon and how things are doing thus far, Screenrant recently interviewed showrunners Condal and Sapochnik.

In the interview, HOTD’s Ryan Condal expressed that the series does not include the novel-style writing he was hoping for. Both Sapochnik and he made attempts to find the “objective truth of this actual history”:

As fun as that Rashomon style of storytelling is, we left that to the book and decided to instead try to define what we thought the objective truth of this actual history was, as we saw it. Certain historians are right and certain historians are wrong; sometimes they all get it right, sometimes they all get it wrong. I think that was the fun of the adaptation; getting to really interplay with the book as a companion piece.

The showrunner is hopeful that that the book fans will be fascinated with series just as much as they did with the original literature. He further shares his thoughts on how what the historians have established may or may not be the same as what the author of the book may have penned down:

I think people who have read the book and watch the series will hopefully be fascinated. “That’s interesting how they spun that event,” or “George wrote this little seemingly throwaway line, but there’s this big thing that happened, because the historians didn’t see it or didn’t know what actually happened.”

RC is also hopeful that if fans were to watch the series, liked it and were to read the book, it may “deepend and enrich” an “understanding of the Targaryen history” that the creators have had in mind.

Then I think if you watch the series and hopefully like it, if you go back and read the book, I think it will deepen and enrich your understanding of the Targaryen history that we’re telling. And I think people will wonder, “What happened to that thing? Did that happen that way, or did it not?” I think real historians go through this process in their own study all the time.

The Fans Verdict Will Be Out Soon

The crown indeed makes the wearer’s head heavy. Will the series satisfy readers’ cravings for George R. R. Martin’s pseudo-medieval garb? Maybe. It’s a challenge that House of the Dragon faces as well, as it follows one of the most successful and beloved television series of all time.

If the House of the Dragon is going to be successful in climbing that wall, only time and the seasons that follow will tell. House of the Dragon may not be a sure thing, but after the first six episodes, it’s evident it has a fighting chance. This fantasy drama doesn’t need you to be a fan of Game of Thrones to appreciate it, but if you are, you will probably still love it.