HBO president Casey Bloys confirms that the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon is set for a 2022 premiere date. The medieval fantasy drama series created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss ran from 2011-2019 and was based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire book series about warring factions seeking to control the fictional continent of Westeros and combat the supernatural dangers that threaten their way of life. During its run, the series won a whopping 58 Primetime Emmys and was beloved by critics and audiences alike.
Unfortunately, the series went the way of The Sopranos with a divisive ending, to say the least. Benioff and Weiss came under fire for seemingly rushing the final season in hopes of moving on to other projects more quickly, and character logic seemed to be forgotten in the flurry of a finale that saw the terrifying Night King finished with a whimper, a jarring change of heart in fan-favorite Daenerys Targaryen, and the unlikely coronation of enlightened seer Bran Stark, who had supposedly ascended beyond petty mortal folly.
Speaking to Deadline, Casey Bloys, president of HBO, said that the prequel series House of the Dragon will be releasing in 2022. There was uncertainty whether HBO would perform as strongly at the Emmys without Game of Thrones in the running, though the network still pulled an impressive seven Primetime Emmy Awards with Succession, Bad Education, Watchmen, and Last Week Tonight. But the Game of Thrones property will not be gone for the long, as Bloys says casting for House of the Dragons is underway.
We first learned of House of the Dragon last year when HBO ordered the 10-episode series, with a pilot set to be directed by Game of Thrones veteran Miguel Sapochnik, who will also serve as showrunner alongside Ryan Condal (Colony). The series is inspired by Martin's 2018 novel Fire & Blood, which tells the history of House Targaryen. The book spans many years and many monarchs, so it's unclear what part the series will focus on. In the original series, the characters live in the wake of a civil war that brought down the Targaryen dynasty in Westeros, established centuries previously by the conquering House of the Dragon who used the beasts as weapons of war.
What another Game of Thrones series could look like is still uncertain. It seems unlikely that the series will feature many familiar faces, and that could be to its detriment. Career-defining performances from the likes of Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, and Maisie Williams as Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and Arya Stark, respectively, were a large part of the series' enduring appeal. Harington has already confirmed that he will not be reviving the role of Jon Snow anytime soon. HBO seems to have high hopes for House of the Dragon, but it remains to be seen just how captivating an unfamiliar Westeros can be.
Source: Deadline