How ‘House of the Dragon’ Will Out-Dragon ‘Game of Thrones’

During a recent appearance on ‘The Stuff Dreams Are Made’ Of podcast, ‘Game of Thrones’ author George R.R. Martin was asked about the highly anticipated prequel ‘House of the Dragon.’ Was there anything about the show he is particularly excited about? According to Martin, he's pumped about all of the dragons.

by Perry Carpenter

Published on October 6, 2021

3 min read

‘House of the Dragon’ is based on George R. R. Martin’s novel ‘Fire & Blood’

The highly anticipated Game of Thrones prequel will be coming to HBO Max next year. The streamer recently dropped a teaser trailer for the series, which will tell the story of the brutal Targaryen civil war known as the “Dance of the Dragons” that occurred at the height of the family’s power.

House of the Dragon takes place two centuries before the events of the original series. And it’s based on Martin’s novel Fire & Blood, which chronicles the rule of House Targaryen.

Fans get their first look at the ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel

The new House of the Dragon teaser trailer features quick snippets of the different characters and various fight scenes as Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) says in a voiceover: “Gods, kings, fire and blood. Dreams didn’t make us kings — dragons did.”

This 60-second clip gave fans their best look to date at the characters, while establishing the setting and plot in relation to Game of Thrones. It was lacking some dragon action, but this is just the first look at the new series. Martin promises the dragons are coming in a big way.

Martin reveals how ‘House of the Dragon’ will out-dragon the original HBO series

During a recent appearance on The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of podcast, Martin was asked about the highly-anticipated prequel. Was there anything about House of the Dragon the author is particularly excited about? According to Martin, he’s pumped about all of the dragons.

“I’ve always thought this was a cool story, it’s one I like, so I’m looking forward to seeing it come alive on screen,” Martin said. “And of course I’m looking forward to the dragons! Obviously, I love the dragons. We had three of them in Game of Thrones, but now we’ve got like 17 of them.”

‘Game of Thrones’ only had 3 dragons

The promise of the 17 dragons in House of the Dragon is a big deal, considering that Game of Thrones only had three. Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal – were hatched by Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in Game of Thrones, and spent the entire series at her side.

The depiction of them often received praise. But, only one made it out of the show alive in the show’s controversial final season. The source material for the prequel does have an ending that Martin has actually published. And Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have no involvement. So, the fate of all these mythical creatures and the end of this story is in the hands of Martin and House of the Dragon co-creators Ryan J. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik.

The dragons will be important characters in ‘House of the Dragon’

There weren’t any dragons in the House of the Dragon teaser. This is possibly due to the fact that season 1 is setting up the story and won’t be that dragon-heavy. It’s also very possible that the dragons still need some serious CGI before they’re screen-ready. But when they do arrive, Martin says fans will be able to tell them apart because they are extremely important characters.

“Hopefully, they’ll each have their own personalities, they’ll be instantly recognizable when you see them, the colors and all of that, because the dragons do have personalities in the books, and it’ll be great to see that come alive. And the dragon riders. That’s all pretty cool,” Martin said.