You thought it was going to be a sleepy Sunday, didn’t you? Never fear, George R. R. Martin and his Not a Blog are here to brush away the weekend boredom. Martin took to his blog today in a surprise entry to subtly reassure fans that there will be a full writer’s room on the new Game of Thrones spinoff titled House of the Dragon, recently announced by HBO with co-showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik.
Martin confirms that Condal wrote the pilot script and the series bible so far, but announces a line-up of writers also in the mix, comparing them to Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya.
According to GRRM, the three other writers involved are:
WES TOOKE was Ryan’s right hand man on COLONY, where he served as an executive producer and wrote thirteen episodes. CLAIRE KIECHEL is a young playwright out of New York who came to HOUSE OF THE DRAGON after stints on Netflix’s THE OA and HBO’s new WATCHMEN series. TI MIKKEL came to the show from my own Fevre River Packet Company, where she’s served as a writer’s assistant, helped in the development of a series of short films I hope to produce, and is spearheading the development of TUF VOYAGING as a television series… when she’s not working on her own novel.
He explains their role helpfully:
Those unfamiliar with the way television works may wonder… if Ryan Condal wrote the pilot and the bible, what did Wes and Claire and Ti do? The answer is: a lot. They sat with Ryan every day in a writer’s room at HBO for months, talking story, going over drafts, giving notes, correcting errors (not that Ryan or I ever made any, no sir, not us), catching inconsistencies, discussing character and plot, offering ideas and suggestions, filling in gaps, breaking down the episodes to come and drawing up a roadmap for the first season and all the seasons to follow. The HOUSE OF THE DRAGON could never have been built without the help of Ti, Claire, and Wes, three terrific young storytellers. They have my thanks, and Ryan’s.
Here’s hoping the writer’s room will continue to have a broad mix of talent to keep things interesting and fresh!
Hopefully they reach out to Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss for some tips and tutelage.
Great stuff from George. Gotta love when big names take time to mention the people who rarely get noticed. Writer’s rooms are usually very collaborative. And while I did not love COLONY as much as George did, I felt the show’s strengths were in the characters. With the framework of plot already set for them, I think all the show needs is a showrunner with a strong character development background… and I think it has that.
I hope for the best.
I think what is interesting about this prequel is that they have completely different team. With other prequels like Star Wars, Hobbit and Fantastic Beasts(even BCS) they had the same team that tried and failed to capture the magic of original story.
There won’t be that kind of situation here.
Ooo I’m excited about Claire Kiechel. I’ve been watching Watchmen (lol) and have been enjoying it. I’m assuming GRRM has shared Fire & Blood volume 2 info with the writers as well. Looking forward to seeing which stories are adapted and how.
I’m very excited. First I will read Fire and Blood next your before the show start.
Jack Bauer 24,
My sarcasm meter is spiked
I’m delighted to see some female writers in the mix, perhaps that portends a more balanced approach in writing and less of those juvenile d*** jokes.
Fewer.
Jack Bauer 24,
Okay, I’m waiting for the punchline.
Hopefully Benioff and Weiss reach out to you to give you some merchandise and souvenirs.
If they lurk on any fan site it’s gotta be this one; if they do, then surely they are aware how you’ve consistently extolled their brilliance.
That’s why you’ve been on a D&D deification campaign, right? You’ll let us know if you score some amazing artifacts, won’t you?
Like Jaime’s golden hand; Varys’s rings; Sansa’s coronation gown; Arya’s S7e4 boots; MFT’s S5e10 contact lenses; Cersei’s wine goblet; an autographed script; Jon Snow’s cojones; Dany’s Snow White flight suit; Arya’s VS dagger; Sandor’s axe; Beric’s eyepatch; Melisandre’s ruby choker; Heartsbane; Sam’s ASOIAF book; the prow of Arya’s direwolf ship; a S6e10 WF Stark banner; Septa Unella’s shame! bell; Thoros’s wineskin; Jon’s Lord Commsnder King Crow cloak; Tyrion’s HotQ badge….
… or do you have something else you’re angling for?
”Martin confirms that Condal wrote the pilot script and the series bible so far, but announces a line-up of writers also in the mix, comparing them to Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya.”
If there was any doubt, we now know for sure his head is in Targville.
Sansaery Shipper,
You’re going to be waiting for a very long time.
Ten Bears,
It must be refreshing to get a pat on the back every once in a while, ya dig?
Ten Bears,
I’m so shocked.
For the record, I think JB’s unabashed adoration for D&D can oftentimes reach creepy/eyebrow-raising territory.
But hey, if countless people online are allowed to absolutely hate D&D’s fucking guts and want them to die or at least fail all their future endeavors, even when they wrote 70% of the show and were the showrunners and the linchpin that kept the entire show afloat and its production running smoothly – all told an ungodly amount of work – and all based off of a series of novels missing its third act, then I say let JB keep on keeping on.
In addition to less – I mean fewer d*ck, c*ck, and c*ckless “jokes”, or better yet none at all, I’m hoping that with a diverse writers’ room we’ll never see another “rape made me a stronger person” type scene like Sansa-Sandor in S8e4. That was horrible.*(And what a waste of a long-awaited reunion scene.😡)
* Coincidentally, I came across this article from “The Independent” quoting Jessica Chastain’s criticism of that scene for the same reasons. (I was able to copy and paste some but not all of the text, below. There were other quoted comments. So click on the link if you want to read the rest.)
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/game-of-thrones/game-of-thrones-season-8-sansa-rape-the-hound-jessica-chastain-episode-4-hbo-a8902806.html
The Independent
May 7, 2019
Game of Thrones criticised by Jessica Chastain for depiction of ‘little bird’ Sansa: “Rape is not a tool to make a character stronger”
The Oscar-nominated star disapproved of Sansa’s scene with The Hound
_____________
The latest episode of Game of Thrones has come under fire for a scene involving Sansa that’s led to Jessica Chastain launching her own criticism against the show.
The HBO show continued its eighth and final season with an episode that featured a reunion between the character played by Sophie Turner and Sandor Clegane AKA The Hound (Rory McCann). The latter tells Sansa how her trajectory might have been less tragic had he taken her with him, like he offered, in the early days of the show.
In the seasons that followed, Sansa was tormented by Joffrey and forced into two marriages against her will – one with a man who raped and tortured her.
“None of it would have happened if you had left King’s Landing with me,” he tells her. “No Littlefinger, no Ramsay, none of it.”
Taking his hand, Sansa responds: ‘Without Littlefinger, Ramsay and the rest, I would have stayed a little bird all my life.” (little bird” being the nickname Clegane gave Sansa in the first few seasons).
This interaction has come under fire – especially considering Sansa’s rape was a story invented for the series by showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss. Many believe that Sansa’s comment almost credits those who inflicted trauma upon her for helping her become the woman she is in the show right now.
Chastain was one such person who criticised the moment, writing on Twitter: “Rape is not a tool to make a character stronger. A woman doesn’t need to be victimised in order to become a butterfly. The little bird was always a Phoenix. Her prevailing strength is solely because of her. And her alone.”
Welp, sounds like good news. ^-^
(The responses to JB are gold. XD)
Actually, I’m fine with d*ck jokes, long as I get a chuckle out of ’em (and I’m a girl.) The Sansa-rape thing didn’t bother me either. Crap befell everybody and I suppose going through it, seeing how much you can withstand/survive can help you discover and prove your strength…the worst experiences can be used as opportunities for learning or growth or development even if you’d never WANT them to happen…I’m a fan of neither Sansa nor Chastain, but that’s beside the point. I know it was added to the story, but it felt like an organic part rather than just being thrown in because they’re misogynistic or something…
Ten Bears,
The word c*ck does crop up relatively often in the books, TB, though not necessarily in a jokey way. JB24 likes to tease but why, oh why, if a person gives a different opinion to that held by a different person are they often accused of being a “shill”. I know you didn’t use that word, TB. (Though maybe you made your statement as a joke). At the risk of sounding like a broken record I didn’t find the endgame of show GoT as loathsome as some other fans have. I still haven’t done the tandem read for AFFC and ADWD (have read them individually) to see if I find them more palatable that way. I didn’t DETEST them – some parts I liked, some were less to my taste – and although book Cersei appears nutty as a fruitcake the backstory about her encounter with Maggy the Frog (more fleshed out in the books) helped explain her character though it didn’t make me like her anymore. I know some people really love those books and if anyone who really likes them in their entirety reads this, please understand I am NOT criticising people who have a different view of them to myself. I thought the river trip could have been condensed [ spoiler ] (and there was something – to me at least -mildly pornographic about the skinny-dipping Septa; I get that we had to know about her stretch marks but still feel it could have been treated less graphically ) and was it really necessary for Mr Martin to describe Princess Not Appearing in the Series’s nipples in such detail [ /spoiler].
Farimer123,
You have raised some valid points.
So, four writers so far. That’s the same number of writers GoT used to have (Dan, David, Bryan and either Vanessa Taylor or David Hill), not counting Martin.
GoT did have a female writer. She wrote the episode with Joffrey and the two whores.
One of the best episodes in the series A Golden Crown was written by a woman. I definitely welcome more women in the writers room, and I was disappointed when D&D decided to “go duo” and basically stop working with other writers (other than offloading onto B. Cogs his 1 episode per season). I’ve often wondered why they did that – did they not get along with the other writers? Were they control freaks?
I respect D&D and the massive work they did, and in no way do I think they are intentionally sexist but wow were there some eyerolls in there in terms of the general “bro-ishness” of their writing from time to time. Pod the Rod (or anything to do with prostitution). Davos of all people making creepy comments about women. Dick jokes. It stands out especially when you read the scripts (what made it on screen was filtered through many other perspectives so in these aspects was often improved).
oierem,
It will be interesting when these famale writers write even more sexual violence because no one can acuse them of sexism.
That’s what Taylor did.
shelle,
This, the 7×07 dick joke with Bronn and Jaime was gold: Maybe it’s all dick in the end.
While I don’t like the 8×01 dickjoke: Because I have balls and you don’t.
Or lady Onella about her grandson: A sword-swallower through and through.
great moment.
Or the hound in 7×06 to Thormund: You want to suck my d*ick, is that it?
And I hate the bad-pussy line.
QueenofThrones,
They consistently wrote 70% of the show throughout its entire run. They didn’t “become” control freaks. They would offload certain episodes towards the middle of a season (S8E1&2 are basically in the middle of the extended season that is S7&8) to others writers they trusted because they didn’t have quite enough time to write all of it.
Farimer123,
House of Dragon has 4 writers, just like GoT had every season(in the first 3 seasons there were 5 writers) so this is not some huge change.
I’d think they should have a bit of an advantage over what D&D had to do. Straight off the top is that while they’re working with some fresh material directly from George, the basic outline of the full story is complete. They should be able to replicate the look and feel of the show well enough, and if they’re smart and lucky enough to get Djawadi, the sound of it as well. One of their biggest challenges will probably be trying to cast the show as well, and then writing for the characters as well to build and create mains that we viewers genuinely care about and want to watch every week. For me they’re going to be behind the cart in this area because I can’t imagine them having anyone even close to ASNAWP. 🙂
And on a production level, Colony is not even a fraction of the level GoT was, so it’ll be interesting to see how Condal does in that respect. Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss had a lot on their plate and I believe the production side of it had to wear them down over the gears. Sapochnik is really going to be key for Condal, since he’s been part of this before.
Honestly, unless a new book comes out I don’t think I’ll be excited for any new TV show.
So the writing room is a bunch of writers with lackluster credentials who are very good friends with George? This after the series was rush ordered just so they would have a big announcement for their HBO Max launch? Sounds good!
This series is going to be typical Marvel dreck, it will please all the pea brains who want to see dragons and fiery battles but be mediocre in every other facet.
Colony S1 consensus of review on Rotten Tomatoes: “Colony offers an engaging enough narrative, a few scares, and an overall good time, even if none of it is particularly original.” That’s our show runner folks.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
You are such a positive and upbeat dude. Your endorsement is the highlight of the comment section.
This description is very different. Here clearly the writers are all collaborating on the design and execution of the entire season. Like a writers room on a regular show. In contrast, the GoT “writers room” at least after the first couple seasons *was* B&W – with occasional outside writers. In several interviews B&W discussed about how, eventually, they realized they worked better as just the pair of them for the bulk of the creative process.
They would plan and outline the entire season each year just the two of them for weeks or months together in the office. Then they would outsource a few episodes each season to other writers to draft scripts, which the two of them would then edit and change as needed.
I’ll try to find the interviews if you don’t believe me. I’m not trashing D&D btw, they did an amazing job overall, I just think their creative process led to certain biases in the final product.
Women writers deal with sex and rape and dick jokes. What a female head writer would hopefully do is get the nuances of female characters in crisis. Something GoT at times did well, but other times completely missed the mark on. Usually when they chucked character interactions for explosions and giant battles.
You know the old saying: ASNAWP doesn’t strike twice.
⚡️👸🏻
kevin1989,
Lol…well, not all c*ck jokes (or anythings) are created equal…;) Some are just…bad pu$$ies…>-<
The thing is with any of the prequels, they are no longer interesting… at least as far as showverse is concerned…
1. Long Night: Who the fuck cares, the whole way they finished off the Night’s King makes me not care at all anymore about his backstory…
2. Targs: Well, turns out that Dany and her dragons were completely pointless in the end and that whole using Dany’s dragon to break down the wall, that was the dumbest deus ex plot device ever conceived. So again, who cares, Dragons and Targs are all dead, no longer interesting.
3. Direwolves: Again completely and utterly pointless, every single one of them in the show. Even the whole thing about the pack staying together ended up being pointless as they are all over the place in the end.
4. Planetos’ Magic/Prophecy: Pfft. The whole buildup of GRRMs work so far was that yes, prophecy is tricky and is sometimes metaphorical. But the thing was, it always made sense after the fact. Every. single. time. Maggy the Frog’s Prophecy was totally shitcanned, as was the Prophecies of Azor Ahai/Prince that was Promised (and no, the three heads of the dragon interpretation some fans peddle does not meet the plausibility standards that GRRM previously employed). In fact, the utter pointlessness of Jon Snow’s character is a total turn off.
5. Ending of GoT, specifically Bran as king and Bronn of all people ruling Highgarden. It’s just downright ludicrous. I have read better fanfiction from 12 year olds than that. GRRM spent the better part of his work emphasizing the importance of blood-claim for Westerosi inheritance. Even Robert is legally lifted to the throne by way of his Targaryen heritage as the most direct line decendant once the Mad King’s descendents were excluded by a defacto Great Council (Vale, North, Riverlands, Stormlands, Westerlands and Iron Islands made 6 out of 8 Lords Paramount in favor). Bran had neither Blood Claim, the right Faith nor any recognition South of Moat Cailin, a rather drastic departure from legal practice as established by GRRM. As for Highgarden, GRRM established that a multitude of houses had claim either through the Gardener line or the Tyrell line to Highgarden, putting a nobody sellsword as the head of that Kingdom would immediately result in civil war in the Reach.
So really, the ending was so completely bungled and badly written that the only thing I might be remotely interested in is what happens to Arya provided they stay away from Westeros.
My guess is a lot of fans feel that way which is why all the prequels were canned and now they scramble to come up with something they can exploit because Maisie isn’t available anymore?
A little like Bloodmoon it’s hard to get too excited this early but at least they have a big book to anchor themselves around when writing for the TV show. It sounds like GRRM will also be closely involved which is a good thing.
Jon Snowed,
I’d get excited if they explicitly linked it to bookverse. Anything related to showverse after the dumpsterfire that was Season 7 and 8 has me going “Meh”.
TormundsWoman,
I’m just speaking truth. The quality of the show is proportional to the talent of the showrunner / writers. Ryan Condal hasn’t done anything in his career up until this point to indicate that his writing will be anywhere near the high points of the original series. Sci Fi channel hasn’t exactly been known for putting out high quality material, just a bunch of schlocky popcorn romps for nerds. If you look on Rotten Tomatoes, not one critic even cared to review S3 of Colony. Jane Goldman was a far more dynamic creative who could’ve produced a much more high ceiling result.
Wes Tooke, the guy mentioned in this article, wrote Midway, the latest big dumb blockbuster that is tearing it up at the box office but has 30% on RT.
Add to this, Miguel Sapochnik will have a ton of creative input LOL.
My prediction: House of Dragons will have writing on par with the average Disney Star Wars / Marvel movie and will be a resounding success since that will be more than enough to please people. Sigh.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
Come on Brian. There’s something to be said about entertainment and art: you can create a turd today and tomorrow a gem. Also: you can be a no one today and tomorrow you wrote a genius book. I think especially for new writers or unknown, not every single new person in that room has to be a genius at first try. It’s quite ridiculous to expect that.
In conclusion you may be right or you may not. Your attitude is what made me comment. That’s all. Such a Negative Nancy is always a treat to read especially before we see anything of this series.
You’re prediction also is not fact or truth. 🤷♀️
Depends on who you ask 😀
TormundsWoman,
When I was positive on Blood Moon no one commented to say, Brian you’re so positive! Keep up the good work! It’s only when people disagree with me, am I negative and pessimist smh.
Sure, it’s possible he knocks it out of the park. But the odds aren’t great, he had his opportunity on Sci Fi, it’ s not even that it was bad, but GoT requires a higher caliber of writing than just someone who did an “OK” job on some Sci Fi series no one remembers or cares about. HBO should’ve taken their time and gotten a much higher caliber creative, someone with a proven track record of excellence, like Charlie Brooker or Craig Mazin.
The only reason Condal got the opportunity to write a pilot is because he was good friends with George, that’s it. This wasn’t based on merit. And Condal got his series greenlit without even having to shoot a pilot, while Jane Goldman, a much more talented and accomplished creative was put through the ringer and ultimately rejected.
So yeah, this was a rush job by HBO, no doubt pressured by the morons at AT & T, to try and milk the golden goose as quickly as possible. And they’re right probably because it doesn’t even have to be close to perfect to get millions upon millions of people to tune in every week. Just have a few big dragon battles filmed by Miguel Sapochnik and you’re good to go.
On the one hand, this seems like a way better choice. Blood Moon always had Caprica vibes to me – like it was going to be a prequel that would be totally out of touch with its place in the chronology of the original series. Nothing about Caprica – a show that I really liked – ever felt believable as a precursor to the world of Battlestar Galactica and I think that really made it hard for it to succeed despite other good qualities. Bloodmoon sounded similarly anachronistic, like it was going to be more modern than GOT despite taking place hundreds (or thousands?) years before hand.
House of the Dragon sounds like a way better choice in theory, in terms of what a lot of viewers of GOT liked – political intrigue combined with dragons, but
LatrineDiggerBrian,
But you were so positive, Brian!!!! I missed that thread and I’m sorry I did not say it. Mea Culpa. I like the Positive Peggys of the world! Keep up the good work ☺️
Blood moon was an unknown. The Long Night was off script, didn’t have a proper outline in the written universe, was about the same fight as before (I mean GoT) and apparently they really were not pleased with the pilot. I was curious about it, I’ll be honest.
This series House of Dragon not only has actual story background in 3 different books written by Martin but it treats a different type of conflict. It depicts something that has a defined storyline in universe, and it has dragons. It’s Targs at their high. And they must have seen some killer script at HBO to green light a whole season. I don’t dispute that they rely heavily on Martin’s relations but at some point maybe take a leap of faith that they may actually not mess this up.(?)
So I want a positive attitude outta you, Brian!
…just wanna say I love Brian.
:3
I mean, I hope HotD actually isn’t disappointing, but he does make fair points.
How can you say Dany was pointless? She’s ultimately the big bad of the story, an arc which ends tragically…
shelle,
ty
TormundsWoman,
I cannot be positive nor negative. All I can do is speak the truth.
While I agree with you that House of Dragons has a juicer subject matter, it ultimately doesn’t matter if the writing in between the lines is mediocre.
BTW more disturbing news from the HBO front. Richard Piepler, longtime HBO exec who played a huge role in the network’s success over the past couple of decades and who championed Game of Thrones, is in talks to be an exec with Apple’s streaming network. One of the reason’s he left HBO was because of its decreasing autonomy after HBO / Time Warner was purchased by AT & T.
So yeah, gone are the days of HBO pushing the limits with groundbreaking shows and art. Hence why I fully expect House of Dragons to be more inline with Disney Marvel than the original series.
LatrineDiggerBrian,
As much as I want to disagree with you, I don’t. Maybe it’s just my cynical nature talking, or simply experience, but I think HBO will try to target the masses as much as possible, which will water down the product and make for a bland viewing experience in the end. People will probably watch regardless of how bad it is though because of branding. It happens all the time with the live action Disney movies and remake after remake after remake. They’re almost all bad, but make tons of money.
I hope I’m wrong though.
shelle,
I kinda like Brian myself but he is a bit of a firestarter lol Which is perfectly fine. I’m having a blast when he’s on a righteous path of criticism cause he definitely rattles a thread when he starts bashing the GoT writing and inconsistencies.
It’s just that is not a series we’ve even seen yet and I think it’s worth giving it a shot before we start talking about mediocre output from lackluster credential writers (his exact words)
WHICH IS NOT A TRUTH YET, OR A FACT, BRIAN!!! It’s just an opinion/ prediction. Unless you actually saw the script they gave HBO of course. Or you’ve see the series already.
TormundsWoman,
All I can do is prognosticate based on the information given. I hope that I’m wrong and Condal ends up being the next great show runner, but you kind of do have to wonder, if he is such a great writer / show runner, why weren’t more people talking about Colony? So Condal will have had to make a meteoric leap in his writing after the end of Colony. The likelihood is that the new show will be of the exact same quality as Colony, which will probably be inoffensive, not dynamic story telling that is enhanced by the presence of dragons and the world of ASOIAF. Again, I hope I’m wrong.
Mr Derp,
Once a property gets so big that it has a built in audience no matter what it does, it’s game over. Then the goal becomes quantity over quality and pumping out as much material as possible as soon as possible. It leads to stories that have a very low ceiling in how much they can impact you. And you’re right, Disney is the worst purveyor of such strategy.
Even still, this probably never would’ve happened had AT & T not bought Time Warner. The Jane Goldman prequel had the soul of old school HBO in it, getting a dynamic creator and allowing them to do their thing. House of Dragons is the opposite. Sad to see so many clueless people not realizing this and frothing at the mouth just because there will be epic dragon battles directed by the buffoon Miguel Sapochnik.
Sapochnik will be a brilliant show runner and Martin has complete trust in Condal.
^u^ I’m with Mr. Derp & Brian; not going to make the mistake of getting too invested too soon. I’ll hope for the best, but stay casual and not be too crushed if it doesn’t turn out. I’ve learned my lesson the hard way… “Thank you for all your many lessons, Lord Benioff (and Weiss.) I will never forget them.”
I am looking forward to this! I hope they keep the POVs of Mushroon and the Maester infused into the story. That will be fun to write. Lots of dragons! Can’t wait to see Sunfyre, Tessarion and Silverwing.