George R.R. Martin: 'House of the Dragon' S2 is 'very dark,' 'may make you cry'

Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin revealed on his blog that he was deeply moved watching the rough cuts of the first two episodes of Season 2 of the prequel, House of the Dragon.

"Of course, I am hardly objective when talking about anything based on my own work... but I have to say, I thought both episodes were just great. (And they are not even finished yet). Dark, mind you. Very dark," Martin said Wednesday.

"They may make you cry. (I did not cry myself, but one of my friends did). Powerful, emotional, gut-wrenching, heart rending. Just the sort of thing I like. (What can I say? I was weaned on Shakespeare, and love the tragedies and history plays best of all)."

The preview screening took place when he recently took a trip to England to visit the HBO show's sets and "spent two days locked in a room with Ryan Condal and his writing staff" discussing plans for the third and fourth seasons.

"They were lively, fun discussions, and we got some good work done... though two days was not nearly enough. There is so much ground to cover that I am not sure twenty days would have been enough," Martin said.

Based on George R.R. Martin's novel, Fire & Blood, the eight-episode second season is set to premiere next summer.

The show chronicles the story of House Targaryen and takes place 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, which ran 2011 to 2019.

Returning for the second season are cast members Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D'Arcy, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans.