Game of Thrones fans rejoiced on Tuesday night when HBO officially announced the spinoff series House of the Dragon. However, few details were made available to begin with, and die-hard fans have a lot of questions. For starters, will the show zero in on one specific time in Westeros’ history, or will it be an anthology-style series?
House of the Dragon is based on George R. R. Martin’s latest book, Fire & Blood. It is not a part of the main series A Song of Ice and Fire, but instead, it’s a fictional history about House Targaryen’s conquest over the Seven Kingdoms. It begins about 300 years before the events of the main series, and it covers about 150 years of time.
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Fire & Blood is written from the perspective of a maester — the equivalent of a history professor in Martin’s fictional world. As such, it does not have the same linear narrative as A Song of Ice and Fire, which translated easily to Game of Thrones. Here, it will take a lot more to fill in the gaps for showrunner, Ryan Condal and his team.
As news of the spinoff spread, fans began by wondering which section of history in Fire & Blood House of the Dragon would cover. There are some epic episodes like Aegon’s Conquest of Westeros, or the Targaryen civil war known as The Dance of the Dragons. There are also prime dramas like the rule of King Jaehaerys the Concilliator, and his romance with Queen Alysanne.
However, on Tuesday night some began to wonder instead if it might not mimic the book more directly. The show could conceivably jump through the time line, fans theorized, covering one section of history in each season, perhaps. Not everyone was on board with this idea, feeling it would burn through content too quickly while offering little new insight into the stories there. Simply put, if House of the Dragon depicts things historically as Fire and Blood does, that leaves less ASoIaF content for adaptation.
So far, HBO has not announced the setting, storyline or characters for House of the Dragon. However, fans can take solace in one quote from Martin himself, which suggests that the series will be more granular than Fire & Blood. Last month, Martin posted a blog post responding to rumors about House of the Dragon. He was vague on the question of content, saying the show is “also a prequel… and yes, it is based on material from one of my books.”
I can see the appeal of running through the chapters of fire and blood, you spend a little time in the most interesting parts of characters reigns then move on. However that leaves you so little time to get to know the characters before you bounce to the next reign.
— Joseph Warlock, Caller of Souls 🧙👻 (@TheJoeMagician) October 30, 2019
“[For what it’s worth], those who have read FIRE & BLOOD will realize it contains enough material for a dozen shows,” he added.
That makes it sound like Martin has no intention of giving all of Fire & Blood‘s stories away in one series. We have reason to take his word for it here as well, since he is listed as a co-creator and an executive producer on House of the Dragon. He may take a more active role in this show than in Game of Thrones.
Whatever the case, we will find out soon enough. HBO has given House of the Dragon a full series order, beginning with a 10-episode season. Check back at PopCulture.com for a release date when it is announced.
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