HBO released a new video featurette on Monday taking fans behind the scenes on House of the Dragon. The show will take fans back to Westeros, and while many things are familiar from Game of Thrones, there are a few significant changes. The online fandom is going wild for these hints of what the new adaptation will hold.
House of the Dragon is set about 200 years before Game of Thrones, so it’s no surprise that King’s Landing, the Iron Throne and the Red Keep all look a bit different. The show takes place at the height of House Targaryen’s power, so the aesthetics of dragon-riding and “Old Valyria” are much more prominent. There are even a few shots here of huge dragon skeletons – depicted with a black, steel-like appearance that seems closer to the description from the books than the previous iteration.
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Fans were also excited to see depictions of women in armor in this video, hinting at some of the powerful dragon-riders to come. Other big visual revelations flashed by quickly, including set pieces that have never been seen on screen before, house sigils that have never been shown before and massive battles on a scale that fans have dreamed of.
Alongside these spectacles came some voice-over interviews with showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik as well as author George R.R. Martin. All three talked about the nerves associated with following in the original show’s footsteps, the balance of introducing new elements while honoring the old and the joy of collaborating on this new venture.
“I’m excited,” Martin said. “It’s always a little apprehensive when you turn your baby over to foster parents, but I’m involved in this. It’s great to have Ryan, who’s a great writer, and someone who knew my world. He’s gonna do his best to be faithful to it. I knew Miguel Sapochnik was an amazing director. He’d won an Emmy, he’d done some of our best episodes. There’s always a little suspense to, ‘How good is it going to be?’ But I think I’m in good hands with Ryan and Miguel.”
“[Sapochnik] saw some of the things that I saw, and it wasn’t just a prequel for prequel’s sake,” Condal said elsewhere in the featurette. “There was actually a reason to tell the story. George’s work really, truly is an immersive world. There’s unexplored, deep recesses and thousands of years of history. The biggest sets I’ve ever been on, the biggest locations I’ve ever been on, the biggest crews I’ve ever seen. It’s staggering. We do really see the creative world very similarly.”
House of the Dragon premieres on Sunday, Aug. 21 on HBO and HBO Max. Martin’s book Fire & Blood is available now in print, digital and audiobook formats.
