On Tuesday, HBO announced that it had ordered to series a Game of Thrones prequel based George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, all about the history of House Targaryen in Westeros. Prepare for House of the Dragon.
Now we’re getting more details on what the show will entail. Although Fire & Blood covers a lot of time, Entertainment Weekly reports that House will start with the events that led up to the Dance of the Dragons, the bloody Targaryen civil war that tore the country apart, with the bulk of the show exploring them in detail. It’s too bad that we won’t see things like Aegon Targaryen and his sisters conquering Westeros, but the Dance is a terrific story, so we’ll survive.
EW also confirmed that there will be 10 episodes in the first season. Although Colony producer and Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik will share showrunning duties (with Martin credited as a co-creator), the whole show is based on an idea originally developed by Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman. Interestingly, his idea was shelved sometime back, and he moved on to work on Amazon’s Lord of the Rings show. For whatever reason, they’ve brought it back.
Sapochnik directed some of the best episodes of the original show, including “Hardhome,” “Battle of the Bastards,” and “The Winds of Winter.” He’ll be directing for House, too, which is good news. The Dance of Dragons involved dozens of Targaryens and their dragons, as well as massive armies on both sides of a bloody conflict.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Dance, it involves Rhaenyra Targaryen — daughter of King Viserys I Targaryen — fighting her half-brother Aegon II Targaryen for the Iron Throne. Rhaenyra was the older sibling, but her father the king got remarried to Alicent Hightower before he died, and Alicent wasn’t about to see anyone but her own son Aegon on the throne, even if he was younger.
The Dance involves more than just Targaryens. House Baratheon, House Stark, House Velaryon and House Hightower all factor in. The Kingsguard is divided, with different members joining different sides. The story of Lord Commander Criston Cole. Then there’s Nettles, a lowborn girl who learns to ride a dragon. Depending on how far back we start, we could get glimpses of King Jaehaerys and Good Queen Alysanne, too. There’s no shortage of interesting characters in this story.
There is no official projected date for when the show will hit HBO, but we’ll be on the lookout for news.
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