One Game of Thrones prequel pilot may be dead, but another spinoff has been given the gift of life by HBO today. House of the Dragons is coming to upcoming streamer from WarnerMedia made it official Tuesday at its news-heavy investors presentation. Jumping beyond pilot, the House Targaryen story from George R.R. Martin and Colony co-creator/exec producer Ryan Condal has received a solid straight to series order.
While narrative specifics on the project based on Martin’s Fire & Blood book are scarce, House of the Dragons will certainly be rich in the dragonlord ancestors of Daenerys. We also hear that the Dance of Dragons civil war alluded to in the blockbuster GoT TV series that just ended its Emmy-winning eighth season earlier this year, and in the books, looks likely to makes up a big part of this prequel’s tale. The prequel does go back 300 years to center on the beginning of the end of the once all-powerful dynasty that dominated the Seven Kingdoms.
This project is one of the remaining four GoT spinoffs in the works at various stages for HBO and its corporate overlords at AT&T. In the works with Martin and Condal since fall 2018, the House Targaryen project from old pals Martin and Condal takes on material originally explored by Bryan Cogman in one of the five GoT prequel scripts commissioned by the then Richard Plepler-run HBO two years ago.
With HBO Max set to launch next spring, the House of the Dragons project for the premium cabler is based on Martin’s bestselling Fire & Blood. The first installment in the pre-GoT book series was published in November 2018. Further chronicling the long-ruling house’s reign, the second Fire & Blood book is expected in the next year or so, we hear – which is just in time for a series, if you know what I mean?
The unveiling of this latest GoT project moving ahead comes just hours after Deadline exclusively revealed that the Naomi Watts-led prequel pilot being showrun by Jane Goldman had its plug pulled by the premium cabler. Back in September, Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva revealed that the Martin and Condal offering was looking pretty promising for HBO’s future – especially with the problems behind the scenes with the Goldman project we now know about.
Condal is repped by Grandview and McKuin Frankel. Martin is with manager Vince Gerardis. Both Condal and Martin also were repped in the original deal for the project, which was made last fall, by WME.