The first major spinoff of HBO’s massive hit series Game of Thrones is eyeing a vague premiere date. House of the Dragon, which will be set roughly 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones, is currently expecting to launch sometime in 2020. The series will focus on House Targaryen, the once-rulers of the kingdom of Westeros, whom Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is a direct descendent of.
“My suspicion is it will be on the air sometime in 2022,” HBO president Casey Bloys told TVLine. While that certainly isn’t specific, it gives a very rough idea of when the world of sword and sorcery will return to living rooms everywhere.
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Bloys also addressed the other Game of Thrones spinoff that was pulled from the network in October, set thousands of years before the show in the era known as the Age of Heroes. It would’ve starred Naomi Watts with Kingsman producer Jane Goldman as showrunner. He said that HBO opted for the Targaryen-centric spinoff largely because author George R.R. Martin has written extensively about it in his novels.
“The Jane Goldman one was a bit of a bigger swing because there was a lot more invention,” Bloys explained. “House of the Dragon, George has text and history for that era, so there is a bit more of a road map. You understood the history and what the story would be, so it’s easier to [visualize].”
Martin, who will serve as both co-creator and executive producer, took to his LiveJournal page, Not A Blog, back in November to tease where some of the stories will be taking their inspiration from.
“If you’d like to know a bit more of what the show will be about… well, I can’t actually spill those beans,” he wrote, adding “but you might want to pick up a copy of two anthologies I did with Gardner Dozois, Dangerous Women and Rogues, and then move on to Archmaester Gyldayn’s history, Fire & Blood.“
That same month, it was announced that House of the Dragon had landed writers Wes Tooke, best known for Colony, and Claire Kiechel, who worked on both The OA and Watchmen, as well as Ti Mikkel. Martin had high praise for all three scribes, as did showrunner Ryan Condal.
HBO made the announcement that House of the Dragon was ordered a straight-to-series back in October, with the first season consisting of 10 episodes.
