‘House Of The Dragon’ Concept Art Attempts To Restore ‘Game Of Thrones’ Interest
by Erik Amaya
It seems someone at WarnerMedia was paying attention to all the Game of Thrones discourse on Twitter yesterday.
As Slashfilm noted, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar signed off his recent blog post about the new plan for Warner Bros. Pictures and HBO Max with some concept art from HBO’s upcoming Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon. Set 300 years before Robert’s Rebellion, it will tell the story — at least initially — of King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine), the first of his name, as he ascends to the Iron Throne from his grandfather Jaeherys Targaryen. Described as “warm, kind, and decent man” his position in the realm and his Targaryen blood still means he is capable of appalling acts. Just look at what his descendant, Daenerys Stormborn, became when she arrived in King’s Landing atop her dragon.
And since the series is initially set during a more ascendant time for House Targaryen, Viserys will have a dragon all his own. Of course, it is unclear which of these dragons will serve the new king as the series begins, but they offer a first glimpse at a different Westeros.
According to Slashfilm, the series will shoot in England and be primarily set on Dragonstone, the island held by Daenerys in the latter seasons of Game of Thrones and an ancestral home of House Targaryen as they made their way across the Narrow Sea to conquer Westeros. At the same time, the history outlined for Considine’s character notes his greatest contribution to Westeros was choosing his daughter Rhaenyra to succeed him, which would lead to the family civil war known as The Dance of Dragons.
That suggests to us the series will quickly head into that conflict and, perhaps, Considine’s time on the series will be as brief as Sean Bean‘s starring turn on Thrones. Hopefully, we’ll be invested with the other characters by then.
The program was co-created by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin and Colony‘s Ryan Condal. “Battle of the Bastards” director Miguel Sapochnik will helm the pilot and additional episodes. Condal and Sapochnik will partner as showrunners on the series, which will be written by Condal.
Kilar’s mention of the prequel series seems an odd coincidence as many people on Twitter yesterday noted the complete lack of continued GoT conversations or memes in the wake of its finale last year. Clearly, WarnerMedia believes some people will talk about Westeros if given a new story to obsess over.
House of the Dragon is set to premiere on HBO sometime in 2022.
