You thought it was going to be a sleepy Sunday, didn’t you? Never fear, George R. R. Martin and his Not a Blog are here to brush away the weekend boredom. Martin took to his blog today in a surprise entry to subtly reassure fans that there will be a full writer’s room on the new Game of Thrones spinoff titled House of the Dragon, recently announced by HBO with co-showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik.
Martin confirms that Condal wrote the pilot script and the series bible so far, but announces a line-up of writers also in the mix, comparing them to Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya.
According to GRRM, the three other writers involved are:
WES TOOKE was Ryan’s right hand man on COLONY, where he served as an executive producer and wrote thirteen episodes. CLAIRE KIECHEL is a young playwright out of New York who came to HOUSE OF THE DRAGON after stints on Netflix’s THE OA and HBO’s new WATCHMEN series. TI MIKKEL came to the show from my own Fevre River Packet Company, where she’s served as a writer’s assistant, helped in the development of a series of short films I hope to produce, and is spearheading the development of TUF VOYAGING as a television series… when she’s not working on her own novel.
He explains their role helpfully:
Those unfamiliar with the way television works may wonder… if Ryan Condal wrote the pilot and the bible, what did Wes and Claire and Ti do? The answer is: a lot. They sat with Ryan every day in a writer’s room at HBO for months, talking story, going over drafts, giving notes, correcting errors (not that Ryan or I ever made any, no sir, not us), catching inconsistencies, discussing character and plot, offering ideas and suggestions, filling in gaps, breaking down the episodes to come and drawing up a roadmap for the first season and all the seasons to follow. The HOUSE OF THE DRAGON could never have been built without the help of Ti, Claire, and Wes, three terrific young storytellers. They have my thanks, and Ryan’s.
Here’s hoping the writer’s room will continue to have a broad mix of talent to keep things interesting and fresh!
