The verdict is in.
George R. R. Martin took to his personal blog to share the “exciting news” that production on the HBO prequel House of the Dragon has wrapped at long last. And though it’s early days, the Game of Thrones creator is confident that viewers will be pleased with the show.
“I have seen rough cuts of a few of [the episodes], and I’m loving them,” he declared. “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.”
But the author cautioned that it might be some time before the series premiere. “So when will you get to see it, you ask?” Martin teased. “When will the dragons dance?”
Well, Martin revealed he’s just as in the dark as the rest of us, writing, “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?”
Game of Thrones Prequel House of the Dragon: First Look
While we don’t know the exact premiere date, HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys recently told Deadline that the show will debut this year, saying the network hesitated to announce anything because of the unpredictable nature of filming during the coronavirus pandemic. As Bloys explained, “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.”
In the meantime, HBO is keeping fans satiated with small glimpses of the series. In October, HBO released a brief teaser trailer for House of the Dragon, previewing Matt Smith‘s role as Daemon Targaryen.
There are other Game of Thrones projects in the works too. Bloys said they’re developing three series: 9 Voyages a.k.a. Sea Snake, Flea Bottom and 10,000 Ships. But he noted that he can’t say too much because it’s all in the early stages, adding, “Some are looking really good. Some we’ll see. We’re not going to make everything. I don’t have any mandate that I must make a certain amount of spin offs or prequels or anything like that.”
This last part is easy to believe considering HBO spent more than $30 million on the pilot for a GoT prequel series starring Naomi Watts, according to the James Andrew Miller book Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers. Former WarnerMedia chairman Bob Greenblatt told Miller that the series just wasn’t up to par, explaining, “I don’t think it delivers on the premise of the original series.'”
After scrapping the unnamed project, they greenlit House of the Dragon, which Greenblatt described as “incredible.”
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