HBO announces new "Game of Thrones" prequel, "House of the Dragon"
HBO has officially ordered a "Game of Thrones" prequel. The new spinoff, "House of the Dragon," will be set 300 years prior to the events of the original show and tell the story of House Targaryen. It features the tagline "Fire will Reign," and will be based on George R.R. Martin's book "Fire & Blood"
The show, which has been ordered straight to series, will be written by Ryan Condal, HBO Programming president Casey Bloys announced Tuesday. Martin, who wrote the books on which "Game of Thrones" is based, is set to co-executive produce. Ten episodes have been ordered for the series so far.
Miguel Sapochnik, who won an Emmy for directing the "Battle of the Bastards" episode, will be a co-showrunner, and will also direct the pilot and other episodes. Vince Gerardis will join Spochnik, Condal and Martin as an executive producer.
"The 'Game of Thrones' universe is so rich with stories," Bloys said. "We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George."
"House of the Dragon" will be the first of many projects for a new deal that Sapochnik has signed with HBO, for which he'll develop and produce content for both HBO and HBO Max.
The announcement comes hours after HBO reportedly killed another prequel set to star Naomi Watts. The unnamed series would have highlighted the "Age of Heroes" and the first-ever battle between humans and White Walkers, thousands of years before the events in the "Game of Thrones" series took place.
