When Game of Thrones came to a dramatic conclusion in May 2019, fans around the world had very mixed feelings. And while there was much debate over the fate of some of our most beloved characters, if there’s one thing that GoT devotees could agree on, is they were already ready for more.
Back in January, the HBO president of programming, Casey Bloys, opened up about the fate of the franchise confirming the prequel, House of the Dragon was going ahead with a 2022 air date.
“My guess is some time in 2022,” he told Deadline at the time — and even though we’ve had a global pandemic since it is still on track. Bloys also said that George R R Martin and Ryan Condal were writing for the show which will be based on Martin’s Fire and Blood.
On December 4, it was announced that House of the Dragon would begin production in 2021. The official Game of Thrones Twitter account also released two photos accompanying the news of two brand new dragons.
Dragons are coming.#HouseoftheDragon begins production in 2021. pic.twitter.com/Bxl763FVdY
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) December 3, 2020
In this new prequel series, the plot will focus on Daenerys’ ancestors and will be set 300 years before Game of Thrones. The story will follow King Viserys Targaryen.
On October 6, British actor Paddy Considine was announced to play the leading role.
DRACARYS!
Paddy Considine has been cast as King Viserys Targaryen in #HouseoftheDragon.
Learn more: https://t.co/yOrMnPTXmM pic.twitter.com/9SI0vM7WEu— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) October 5, 2020
Fans of Peaky Blinders will recognise Considine as Father John Hughes in the hit series while others may know him from films such as The Bourne Ultimatum and Cinderella Man.
House of The Dragon is one of four GoT projects in the works, however, three are on hold for the time being.
“Obviously, it’s a big, complicated show,” Bloys said. “For me, for right now, I think getting House of the Dragon on the air will be the number one priority.
When referring to the other three prequels: “Sometime down the road who knows, but there are no immediate plans. We are all focusing on House of the Dragon.”
Bloys also gave a reason as to why Bloodmoon, another sequel written by Jane Goldman didn’t go ahead after its pilot.
“There was a lot more world creation because she set hers 8000 years before the show, so it required a lot more,” he revealed.
“One of the things about House of Dragons, there is a text, there is a book, so that made it a little bit more of a road map for a series order.
“We purposefully developed multiple projects. We would have been very lucky to do one pilot, have that pilot go and be a success, but in development, as you know, it takes a lot of tries to get it right – this is no different.”
Before the show’s final episode aired, news of a spin-off, Bloodmoon, spread like wild(ling) fire with multiple reports saying that it had already begun filming.
Martin was said to already be involved in the project and Australian actor Naomi Watts was said to play a “charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret”.
The show was going to be set more than 5,000 years before the likes of Jon Snow or Robert Baratheon were even born, and was not planning to feature any of the original Game of Thrones cast.
But then, in October 2019, the project was abruptly cancelled and replaced with House of The Dragon.
In our opinion, 2022 cannot come fast enough.