https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/game-of-thrones-prequel-house-of-the-dragon-hbo-1203387420/

Interesting. Looks like that Long Night prequel was axed for this. Probably the safest choice for a prequel, honestly. Seems it's going to work up from Valyria/Aegon's Conquest rather than straight up covering the Dance, which may be good or really bad. Some parts of Fire & Blood lore are gutter-quality.

Seems like it's still unsure how much a part GRRM will play in producing this.

 

Oh, look, yet another thing GRRM is doing that's not writing his fucking book.

 

I would have preferred the Long Night prequel to get some fulfilling explanations for some of the magicky stuff that GoT S8 totally fucking dropped the ball on. But I'm guessing George hasn't actually written fulfilling explanations for any of that, so I suppose yes, this is safer.

 

The Long Night from the moment of its announcement was a rather bold project with very little connections to established elements of GoT. And now with all the excitement for this world gone after the lacking finale, HBO probably wanted something they can openly promote before they even cast anyone, giving fans something to speculate about.

 

A few pieces of news recently that relate to this. Shooting is due to start over the next few months for House of Dragons, with a target release date in 2022.

HBO also has got 3 other potential GoT offshoots in early stage consideration.

They must have a fair bit of confidence in House of Dragons if they've planning another show thats based on it.

The second one sounds interesting, potentially. Has the potential to be full of fantasy stereotypes though - the mysterious warrior desert princess.

The third one...it'll really depend on what the actual premise is I think, there's a lot of ways they could take it from it being set in Flea Bottom. Some good, some bad, some terrible.

And finally in news to make everyone who is waiting for the final book angry, GRRM has apparently just signed a 5 year deal with HBO to produce original content for them. Mid 8 figures apparently, which is...hefty as fuck, they must be betting he has some really solid ideas. And I don't imagine they'll be keen on giving him much free time when they're paying him that much.

 

My hype is basically nonexistent for these shows, and I can barely bring myself to care about Winds of Winter at this point.

Season 8 really soured all things GoT for me.

 

In my opinion WB/HBO shouldn't assume that these shows will be popular just because they're in the Westeros. For the causal viewers they would need at least some of the same characters and for the fans they need to convince them it's going to be much better than the last season.

 

Presumably they're hoping that the same formula of pseudo historical low fantasy, with lots of violence and sex, and a scattering of reasonably interesting characters will equal similar levels of success.

I'm not entirely sure I agree with their thinking on that though.

 

Totally, I still want the final books of the main series, but that is more for closure, and I doubt we will get it.

Honestly the piss poor job of season 8 and kinda 7 have cost HBO maybe billions. This could of been a franchise to rival HP and Marvel (Not to the same size maybe, but comparable). I would love to hear what the top brass of HBO think of that whole cluster fuck.

 

I feel as if they are focusing on the wrong thing with this upcoming show. People care more about House Stark. Like GOT the show should have a Northern storyline and Southern storyline. In the South you have all the politicking between the Greens and Blacks. In the North you have Cregan butting heads with his regent and uncle over who will be the future Lord Stark.

They are gonna need a miracle to gin up interest after the catastrophe season 8 was. It was so bad I’m pretty sure Benioff and Weiss have become persona non grata in Hollywood. And it’s not just season 8. Why would anyone care about a Nymeria show when the Dornish plot got fucked up and axed so quickly? This is just further proof to me that Martin has no interest in finishing the books and only cares about writing more of his GRRMillrion.

 

I'm not sure I'd call signing a 9 figure exclusive contract with Netflix being PNG'd by the industry, unfortunately. Sounds more like failing upwards to me.

 

It all depends on what is expected of them. D&D may be horrible when writing events on their own, which is what happened with the later seasons, but they were very good when adapting the existing material. Just give them the books with the ending and they will do a very good job. Which is what Netflix does with The Three-Body Problem and Disney didn't when asking for something original.

 

If I were to choose, I would make Blackfyre Rebellion at the moment. No dragons, saving the budged and probably the best cast of characters.

 

A little more info has come out about House of Dragons. A reasonably good looking cast list, a couple of big hitters and plenty of other talented names.

Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower
Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower
Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen
Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen
Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon
Eve Best as Rhaenys Velaryon
Paddy Considine as Viserys Targaryen

Also a couple of photos:

Spoiler

So a decent set of casting, and some not bad looking pics. As long as the writing is decent I think it stands a good chance of being enjoyable. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but at the same time I'm definitely willing to give it a chance.

 

D&D aren't involved apparently, so that's good. Miguel Sapochnik (the big battle guy from latter seasons) is one of the showrunners. I do want more of the GoT TV universe, so I am looking forward to this one.

 

I hope he finds the fucking light switch this time

 

Not gonna lie, I read that as "Dungeons and Dragons aren't involved" and immediately wondered when Wizards of the Coast got involved with Game of Thrones...

 

Inject Matt Smith as Daemon the Rogue Prince into my fucking veins.

Speedball that with Ceraxes battling Vhagar above the Gods' Eye into the same goddamn vein

 

Apparently Corlys Velaryon was black. The casting so far has been quite funky.