‘House of the Dragon’: George R.R. Martin Gives Filming Update on ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel Series

Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin is sharing an update on HBO’s upcoming prequel series House Of the Dragon with his fans. The bestselling author took to his blog Thursday to share a filming update and reveal his initial thoughts on the rough cuts he had been shown, and it’s enough to give fans of the franchise hope.

“I am informed that shooting has wrapped for the first season of House of The Dragon. Yes all ten episodes,” he wrote. “I have seen rough cuts of a few of them, and I’m loving them.” Martin continued, “Of course, a lot more work needs to be done.Special effects, color timing, score, all the post production work. But the writing, the directing, the acting all look terrific. I hope you will them as much as I do. My hat is off to Ryan [Condal] and Miguel [Sapochnik] and their team, and to our amazing cast.”

House of the Dragon is based on Martin’s Fire & Blood, which chronicles the events 200 years before Game of Thrones takes place, telling the story of House Targaryen. Starring as King Viserys Targaryen is Paddy Considine, and Alicent Hightower is played by Olivia Cooke. Emma D’Arcy was cast as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, while Matt Smith plays Prince Daemon Targaryen and Lord Corlys Velaryon is played by Steve Toussaint. 

House of the Dragon has yet to have a premiere date announced, and Martin revealed to fans Thursday he has just as little an idea as to when it will launch as everyone else. “So when will you get to see it, you ask?When will the dragons dance?” he asked. “I wish I could tell you.Lots of work remains to be done, as I said, and covid makes planning difficult.This spring?Unlikely.Maybe summer?Could be.Fall?Who knows? You’ll know when we do.”

HBO and HBO Max Chief Officer Casey Bloys previously spoke to Deadline about the lack of a premiere date, explaining that the network was being “cautious” amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “One of the reasons why we’re trying to be cautious about it is when you’re shooting a show that big during a pandemic, especially with the last round [with] a lot of crew and cast members… you didn’t know who was going to drop out or if we’re going to have to shut down so we just didn’t want to declare a date and then find ourselves shut down,” he said. “Now that we are out of production, I think that we will talk to their guys and figure out what we want to do in terms of announcing a date. But I was just trying to make sure that we didn’t come out with a date that we couldn’t meet for something that was out of our control.”