Fans are outraged at House of the Dragon for reusing the same, albeit iconic Game of Thrones theme song for its opening titles sequence. The prequel series, which follows the Targaryen family 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, premiered August 21 on HBO and first caught the ire of fans for not including an opening credits sequence at all. Showrunner Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik later explained this was a creative choice to allow more time for plot development and confirmed House of the Dragon episode 2 would have a title sequence.Considering that Game of Thrones featured an iconic opening credits sequence and theme song, fans were excited to see what House of the Dragon would deliver. The new sequence includes visuals reminiscent of the Game of Thrones intro, but they have been altered due to the prequel's focus on House Targaryen as blood streams through a model of Valyria and covers various castles. However, House of the Dragon's opening title sequence doesn't even bother to use a new song, but instead opts to recycle the exact same Game of Thrones theme composed by Ramin Djawadi without any variations.Shortly after House of the Dragon episode 2 aired, fans took to their social media to share their reactions to the prequel reusing the Game of Thrones theme. Many fans were upset Djawadi didn't compose an original theme for the show and decided to roast House of the Dragon for the questionable decision. On the other hand, the recycled theme did succeed in making a few feel nostalgic for Game of Thrones. Check out some of the reactions below:
Based on these reactions above, many fans are understandably upset at House of the Dragon for recycling the Game of Thrones theme. Author Dave Itzkoff invokes the example of Cheers and Frasier to illustrate the absurdity of a spinoff reusing the same theme from its parent show. Sitcom themes are a bit different since typically feature lyrics referencing the show, though another more relevant and recent example would be Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul which, despite their interconnectedness, are two different shows and thus feature distinctly different themes.
House of the Dragon reusing Game of Thrones' theme robs the show of the opportunity to have an equally-iconic theme that is more tailored to the prequel, much like the opening sequence's visuals have been updated. Instead of the main theme, House of the Dragon could have easily reused one of Djawadi's Targaryen themes from Game of Thrones and likely seen better results. This would have succeeded in making House of the Dragon feel more like Game of Thrones, which appears to have been their objective with recycling its theme, while simultaneously making the prequel show feel separate and distinct.
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