Nearly two years after it was first announced back in 2019, HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon, has finally started production. However, unlike the original Games of Thrones sequel that revolves around the multiple warring houses of Westeros, the prequel will revolve around the former dragon-taming powerhouse, House Targaryen.
House of the Dragon is Under Construction
— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) April 26, 2021 HBO announced on Twitter by sharing a photo of the show’s cast in their most recent table read. If we’re being honest, it was quite difficult to make out which actors were there and who they’ll be playing. However, one of the easiest to spot was Doctor Who’s Matt Smith. You can see him clearly in the far right on the photo above. In addition to Smith, House of the Dragon will also include the likes of Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Emma D’Arcy, and Sonoya Mizuno. However, while the show will be a Targaryen-centric affair, not all cast members will be playing the white-haired and purple-eyed foreigners. Only Smith, Considine, D’Arcy, will be playing members of House Targaryen. Considine, in particular, will be playing the King of Westeros at the time, with HBO describing him as a “warm, kind, and decent man”, which is basically a code word for early death in Game of Thrones. As we’ve already mentioned, House of the Dragon will be a prequel to Game of Thrones. However, it won’t directly lead up to the events of HBO’s hit series that spanned eight (mostly successful) seasons. Instead, House of the Dragon will take place roughly 3 centuries before the events that kicked off the start of Game of Thrones. The upcoming show will take audiences through arguably the peak of the Targaryen Dynasty. As for a premiere date, the only lead we have so far is HBO’s announcement that House of Targaryen is coming to HBO Max in 2022. But, if it’s any consolation, House of Targaryen isn’t the only Game of Thrones spin-off in the works. In fact, as many as 6 projects are in the planning stage. House of the Dragon is set to get its own spin-off, 9 Voyages. This spin-off of the spin-off will reportedly tie directly to the events of the Game of Thrones prequel. Whether or not HBO’s decision to greenlight multiple Game of Thrones projects simultaneously will pay off is anyone’s guess at this point. With that said, one thing we can be sure of is that House of the Dragon has just as much of a chance to succeed like the original Game of Thrones series. The book’s author, George RR Martin, along with writer Ryan Condal, are the show’s creators. Miguel Sapochnik, who directed Battle of the Bastards, among others, is also one of the showrunner of House of the Dragon with Ramin Djawadi having signed up as the show’s composer.
