“House of the Dragon”: How the “Game of Thrones” spin-off series took off

“Game of Thrones” is finally getting a spin-off in “House of the Dragon” three years after its final episode, and the process of getting there was a long one.

Several series were launched and a pilot of another series was also made, which was later canceled. But it’s “House of the Dragon” – with a story about the mighty Targaryens – that is set to debut as the first spin-off series of HBO’s smash hit.

“This is a very important franchise for us,” Casey Bloys, HBO’s chief content officer, told the New York Times. “The point here is that you don’t just want to remake the original series,” said Casey Bloys, HBO’s chief content officer. “You want to do a show that looks related and honors the original, but also looks like him.”

“House of the Dragon” takes place nearly 200 years after the events of “Game of Thrones” and follows the Targaryen family, made up of silver-haired people riding dragons, or simply the ancestors of Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke . in the original series.

But things took some time to develop to get here. In May 2017, when the penultimate season of “Game of Thrones” aired, HBO announced that it had four potential spin-offs in development. Hence, a candidate was chosen to produce.

Except it wasn’t “House of the Dragon”, but a story that took place a thousand years before the events of “GoT”. However, a pilot episode was recorded in 2019 and the network decided not to continue with the story.

“As soon as I saw the first pilot, I realized this was not the show to release,” said Bob Greenblatt, former president of WarnerMedia Entertainment. He said the pilot didn’t feel “expansive or epic enough”.

With that option out of the question, HBO was quick to get another spin-off off the ground. Greenblatt said he was “eager to get something – anything – from ‘Game of Thrones’ intellectual property,” after all WarnerMedia was about to launch its new streaming platform, HBO Max.

“I understand the reluctance of Casey and the team to put a new Game of Thrones series into production (especially after the backlash of the original series last season),” he added. “However, while we all knew that no sequel or prequel could reach the level of the original, there was an agreement that we had to move forward with something.”

It turns out that HBO had another project in the works and the author of the “Game of Thrones” universe, George RR Martin, was pushing for development. This spin-off in question chronicled the rise and fall of the Targaryens.

The series is based on Martin’s book “Fire and Blood”, which tells the story of the family and its conflicts. “He was very passionate about this particular story,” said Miguel Sapochnik, who worked on the original series and is the showrunner of the “House of the Dragon” spin-off.

Then, Martin worked on the project together with Sapochnik, until he called Ryan Condal, creator of the American science fiction series “Colony” and friend of Martin. The two were in constant contact to talk about the series, discussing other fantasy creators such as Robert E. Howard, JRR Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin. “When we met, we talked like two fans do,” said Martin.

And that’s when Martin invited Condal to work on the Targaryen prelude, along with him and Sapochnik. HBO agreed and hired Condal as creator along with Martin and showrunner along with Sapochnik. With this lineup, HBO has chosen to give the green light to the production of “A Casa do Dragão”.

“What attracted me is that it’s a family drama,” Bloys said. “Anyone who has step-parents or siblings or half-siblings, or has warring factions in a family, I think every family in America has faced a version of this.”

Martin wants to see the “Game of Thrones” universe expand and works directly on “House of the Dragon” and other spin-offs in development. “George, this process has been a very valuable asset to us,” Bloys said. “He is literally the creator of this world. He is your historian, your creator, your guardian. And so I can’t imagine doing a show he didn’t believe in or approve of.

As for audience expectations, Casey Bloys said he doesn’t expect “House of the Dragon” to achieve the success of “Game of Thrones”, but at the same time he hopes the series will be successful and pave the way for a new spin off.

“There is no world where we expect this to pick up where the original left off,” Bloys said. “I think the series will go very well. But it will have to do the job alone to attract people and support the public ”.

“House of the Dragon” will arrive on HBO and HBO Max on August 21, and the spin-off will release weekly episodes on Sundays, a dynamic “Game of Thrones” fans are all too familiar with.

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Source: Olhar Digital

Emily

Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.