‘House of the Dragon’: George R.R. Martin Calls the ‘Game of Thrones’ Prequel ‘Dark, Powerful, Visceral, Disturbing, Stunning to Look at’
House of the Dragon — the first Game of Thrones prequel — is finally about to premiere. And author George R. R. Martin recently took to his blog to share his thoughts about the new series. As one of the producers, Martin has seen all ten episodes in the form of “rough cuts.” And his initial reaction is that they are “dark, powerful, visceral, disturbing, and stunning to look at.”
George R.R. Martin says the cast and crew of ‘House of the Dragon’ have done ‘some magnificent work’
In a recent update on Martin’s Not A Blog website, he shared that after viewing the “rough cuts” of the first 10 episodes he absolutely loves what he’s seen. He called out executive producers Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik by name, praising them for their work. And he gave props to the rest of the cast and crew.
“Ryan and Miguel and their amazing cast and crew have done some magnificent work,” Martin wrote.
The update came from a quarantined Martin, who has been in isolation due to a positive COVID test after his appearance at the House of the Dragon panel at San Diego ComicCon. Martin says he’s been binging The Sandman, catching up on emails, and working on The Winds of Winter.
Martin insists he’s making progress on the book, and “hope[s] to wrap up the story line for one of the viewpoint characters…this week. Maybe even two.”
George R.R. Martin says the prequel is ‘dark, powerful, visceral, disturbing, stunning to look at’
As for his specific thoughts about the new series in the Westeros-verse, Martin says “Hot D” is all he hoped it would be (For some reason, the author has chosen to style the acronym for House of the Dragon as Hot D, but it’s just not working for us).
“Hot D is all I hoped it would be; dark, powerful, visceral, disturbing, stunning to look at, peopled with complex and very human characters brought to life by some truly amazing actors,” Martin wrote.
He also pointed out that the source material for House of the Dragon — Martin’s Westeros history book Fire & Blood — is back on The New York Times bestseller list.
“FIRE & BLOOD is back on the NEW YORK TIMES bestseller list, and rocketing up every week. I wonder if there is any connection?” Martin cheekily wondered.
If ‘House of the Dragon’ is successful it will lead to other ‘Game of Thrones’-related series
Even though House of the Dragon is the follow-up to the most successful HBO series of all time, there is no guarantee it will be a success. The disappointing final season of Game of Thrones didn’t sit well with many in the fanbase, and the social media chatter for the new series has been quite skeptical.
But if House of the Dragon ends up being a hit with audiences, that will likely mean a number of new Game of Thrones-related projects will get the greenlight. Currently, there are a handful of live-action and animated projects in development at HBO and HBO Max.
“Development is a long and chancy process, of course, and there’s no telling how many series will be greenlit in the end… I am really excited about the way some of them are coming along, though,” Martin wrote.
House of the Dragon premieres Sunday, August 21 on HBO.
