What Is the Game of Thrones Prequel Based On?
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Three years on from the heavily-criticized final season of Game of Thrones, HBO is returning to the Westeros-verse with a much anticipated prequel series. Set hundreds of years before the events of the original series, House of the Dragon will introduce an entirely new cast of characters as it chronicles the story of the Targaryen civil war.
If this is all sounding eerily familiar, that might be because this is actually HBO's second attempt at a GoT prequel. Back in 2019, the network spent more than $30 million on shooting the pilot for an untitled series starring Naomi Watts, which took place thousands of years before Game of Thrones. That show would reportedly have focused on the history of the Stark and Lannister families.
House of the Dragon, on the other hand, is set just 300 years before the events of GoT, and centers on House Targaryen, a.k.a. the ancestors of Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), during a time of huge political upheaval in Westeros. Though specific plot details are thin on the ground, we do know that the series will "set sibling against sibling and dragon against dragon" in a battle for the Iron Throne, per Rotten Tomatoes.
“House of the Dragon has been in development for several years (though the title has changed a couple of times during that process),” Martin wrote on his blog, after the show's pickup was announced in 2019. “It was actually the first concept I pitched to HBO when we started talking about a successor show, way back in the summer of 2016.”
That timeline is interesting, because House of the Dragon is primarily based on a book that wasn't released until 2018 – although Martin had surely been working on it for years prior. That book is titled Fire & Blood, and it chronicles the history of House Targaryen in such detail that a second volume is reportedly on its way.
It's possible that the series will only use the book as a jumping off point, rather than committing to a totally faithful adaptation – but either way, the Fire & Blood plot synopsis offers a few hints about what to expect:
"Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire & Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.
What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why was it so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were Maegor the Cruel’s worst crimes? What was it like in Westeros when dragons ruled the skies? These are but a few of the questions answered in this essential chronicle, as related by a learned maester of the Citadel and featuring more than eighty-five black-and-white illustrations by artist Doug Wheatley—including five illustrations exclusive to the trade paperback edition. Readers have glimpsed small parts of this narrative in such volumes as The World of Ice & Fire, but now, for the first time, the full tapestry of Targaryen history is revealed."
House of the Dragon was created by Martin alongside showrunners Ryan Condal (best known for creating the USA sci-fi series Colony) and Miguel Sapochnik (a Game of Thrones director). It stars Paddy Considine (as King Viserys I), Emmy D’Arcy (as Princess Rhaenrya, Viserys’ heir apparent), Matt Smith (as Prince Daemon, Viserys’ younger brother), Rhys Ifans (as Ser Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King), Olivia Cooke (as Lady Alicent Hightower, Otto’s daughter), Fabien Frankel (as Ser Criston Cole), Steve Toussaint (as Lord Corlys Velaryon), Eve Best (as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon) and Sonoya Mizuno (as Mysaria, Daemon's confidante and lover).
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