George R.R. Martin, the author of the series of fantasy novel A Song of Ice and Fire, recently announced that there will be a Game of Thrones prequel coming on HBO in 2022. The prequel is called House of the Dragon, and it will spotlight 17 dragons.
The Game of Thrones prequel series named House of the Dragon is set to premiere sometime in 2022. George R.R. Martin said that the series will showcase not three, but 17 dragons. Adapted from the fantasy novel series written by GRRM, A Song of Ice and Fire, HBO’s Game of Thrones gained immense popularity among audiences. The show contains eight seasons, running from 2011 to 2019. Records have shown that the spectators made it the most distinguished, high ranking show for the network. After almost a two year hiatus from the fantasy world, the prequel House of the Dragon releases in 2022.
How House of the Dragon Got Brought to Life
The beginning seasons of Game of Thrones gained traction and audiences’ admiration. The network decided to make hay while the sun shone and was on a constant hunt for establishing a successor for the show. There is news that a few offshoot ideas are also being looked into. Around the time of the release of season 8 in 2018 and 2019, the show had two prequels under production.
But after the season got considerable negative reactions by a large number of audiences, the network decided to not go through with Bloodmoon, and the pilot was where they drew the line. However, House of the Dragon lingered. The show is supposed to be set 200 years before Game of Thrones and would delineate House Targaryen’s fall from power.
George R.R. Martin conversed on the podcast The Stuff Dreams Are Made of and revealed that like the name itself suggests, House of the Dragon will feature 17 dragons. Martin also said that he was singularly looking forward to the series because the story has always been very dear to the author, and he is very eager and thrilled to see it turn to flesh and be delivered to audiences. In fact, he shares our exuberance in that he is particularly excited to see so many dragons make it to the show.
I’ve always thought this was a cool story, it’s one I like, so I’m looking forward to seeing it come alive on screen. And of course I’m looking forward to the dragons! Obviously, I love the dragons. We had three of them in Game of Thrones but now we got like 17 of them. And hopefully, they’ll each have their own personalities, they’ll be instantly recognizable when you see them, the colors and all of that, because the dragons do have personalities in the books, and it’ll be great to see that come alive. And the dragon riders. That’s all pretty cool.
Not only that, during the conversation, the author also spoke about why HBO decided to desert the Bloodmoon pilot. Martin disclosed the fact that Bloodmoon was not even his priority for the show’s successor series. But rather, “there were a number of other shows that were developed at that time,” he says, “most of them put together by writers that HBO hired, who had never read my books. […] And when we were getting into this, I didn’t want that anymore.” Ryan J. Condal, co-creator for House of the Dragon, was surprisingly proficient in the history of the story and of GRRM’s work, and Martin was quite taken back by the fact. This is why Martin adds that “none of those [other] shows ultimately got on the air.”
Disclosing the one fact that could churn enthusiasm for all Game of Thrones’ fans seems to have been Martin’s plan. And to say it worked would be an understatement. We still haven’t forgotten the magnificent representation of Daenerys’ three dragons.
The show received quite a lot of appraisal for that, and to know now that the fabulous creatures will be duplicated not once, not twice, but 17 times, is enough to draw the attention. Not only that, while David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Game of Thrones creators, are known to be off the project, it is Martin’s own involvement as a co-creator that has definitely got us waiting to watch how House of the Dragon turns out.
