CONFIRMED: House of the Dragon will start production in 2021

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Although we’ve reported on everything we can get our greyscale-free hands on — showrunners, writersfilming locations, one or two castings — there has been very little “official” news about HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon. But I’m here to deliver glad tidings, folx: that drought is over.

The official GoT Twitter account posted today that “Dragons are coming” confirming that production on HoTD — which will explore the history of the Targaryens in Westeros, most notably their civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons — will begin in 2021. The tweet was accompanied by what looks like concept art of two dragons that are red in tone (possibly Sunfyre and Caraxes, but I’m just speculating).

It doesn’t sound like much to get excited about, but it’s an arduous process for any film or TV series just to get to the point of being allowed to say anything is “official.” This simple tweet represents months of behind-the-scenes work: coordinating filming schedules and locations, writing scripts, hiring crew, etc. I’m going to assume we can expect much more verified (or at least verifiable) news about HoTD in the very near future — and Watchers will be here to walk you through all of it! Stay tuned!

Update: the HOTD dragon concept art was done by Dan Katcher, who also worked with Game of Thrones. Thanks for the head’s up!

80 Comments

  1. “NO ONE CARES ABOUT THIS SHOW!!!” say the anxious voices of the people who can’t stop reading everything about GOT, this show, GRRM, and creating memes about the shows they say no one cares about even though every waking second of their lives is spent figuring out how they can focus more on it.

  2. Can’t wait! In other news, there’s a rumor flying around that Matt Smith is being eyed for Daemon Targaryen.

  3. Pretty good concept art, no doubt. Let’s say at this point I’m cautiously optimistic…and I’ll leave it at that until further news and details filter in.

  4. I’ll take every positive piece of news on HotD out there! 😀 Particularly interested to hear confirmed casting news >:)

  5. Daniel Katcher:
    Its me Dan Katcher. I did the original Dragons for the series.

    Incredible work!!!

    I’m curious: Did you study the physiology and behavior of (pet) birds when creating the baby dragons and juvenile dragons? I’ve had pet birds most of my life, and the dragons you created seemed to act and react to their human “mother” and her friends (and to her enemies) the same way my birds behaved. 🦜

  6. Tron79:
    https://www.dankatcher.com/reel
    Great

    Thanks for that, Tron!
    Daniel Katcher is the Ramin Djawadi of CGI dragons. So many iconic scenes – especially that final sequence of S1e10 when unburnt Dany stands up in the embers of the funeral pyre, and the dragon hatchlings appear. Amazing!

  7. Dan Katcher did the 2nd image of the head but not the full body, that one is by a different artist.

  8. Daniel Katcher:
    Its me Dan Katcher. I did the original Dragons for the series.

    nice artwork! i’m sure you are the type of person that never has nightmares of any sort 😉

    allow me some questions, please. the first is about the spikes on the backs of your GoT dragons. they are comfortable enough to allow up to seven persons to sit on them during flight. they are also hard enough to make storing the luggage (i.e. a captured zombie) esasily by just attaching it. if i may say so without hurting the feelings of other zombies. >> are there defined comfort- and no-comfort-zones on a dragon’s back, with hard spikes and soft spikes at certain places?

    the other one is about the teeth of the dragon pictured on the right in the tweet above. it looks more like these are the teeth of an omnivore than a 100% carnivore. >> is it true that dragons were on mixed diet in the old days? is this why we never see carrots on GoT, be it the actual episodes or just the history and lore – because carrots got extinct by dragons?

    enough of the silly shit! i cannot wait to see your next dragons in action. and you’d also be my favorite figure creator when it comes to a potential series about a certain orange…

  9. Dame of Mercia,

    I’m looking through Dan Katcher’s website, which Tron79 linked above. According to its biographical summary, which probably is not exhaustive:

    Dan Katcher is a renowned Los Angeles-based creature designer for television, video games, and film. He is best known for his design of the dragons on HBO’s hit, Game of Thrones, which earned him Emmy recognition for three straight seasons. In addition to Game of Thrones, Dan is currently at work on creatures for a number of DC Comic productions, including The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl.

    Dan’s previous work includes the dinosaurs on Fox’s Terra Nova, alien designs for the Green Lantern film, creature designs for MTV’s Shannara Chronicles, and sculpts of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” for Sideshow Collectibles, as well as many other works both public and private. Dan got his start creating collectibles in wax for Todd McFarlane Toys in New York….

    While it does not mention work on Jurassic Park sequels, I have not “drilled down” to look for his complete list of credits on IMDB or elsewhere. Nor have I watched the “Jurassic Park” movies after the first two. (The dinosaur CGI was new and groundbreaking back then. The novelty kind of wore off – for me – with the second installment. Having said that, the “baby raptors” at the end of the first film or beginning of the second looked adorable yet deadly; the velociraptors stalking the humans in the lab was a suspenseful scene (kind of like the wights in the WF library in GoT S8e3); and that scene of a venom-spitting dinosaur ambushing Newman from Seinfeld in the first film was creepy yet kinda funny. He had it coming, for stealing the DNA canister…)

    I am troubled by your revelation that a beast
    gobbled up Katie McGrath in one of the ‘Jurassic’ follow-ups.” I was not aware of that. In fact, although I recognize her name, I’m not too familiar with Katie McGrath’s work.
    I do know that she was a popular fancasting choice to play Lyanna Stark.
    Did she play an innocent victim; self-sacrificing heroine; or deserving villainess/dinosaur snack in a Jurassic Park movie?
    Though Lyanna was doomed to die young, kinda hard to picture a character played by the fan-casted actress getting gobbled up by a cloned prehistoric creature… 🙁 Oh well.

    FWIW: British-American actress India Eisley had been my top choice to play the star-crossed GoT equivalent to Shakespeare’s Juliet. (Her mom, Olivia Hussey, starred as Juliet in Zeffirelli’s 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. I thought her daughter India had the “perfect” look for Lyanna Stark based on book readers’ interpretations; illustrators’ pre-show depictions of the “wild beauty” referred to in the books; as well as a resemblance to Maisie Williams’s Arya. No sleight against Aisling Franciosi intended. I just thought that Lyanna Stark was supposed to be such a knockout that Robert was so obsessed with her that he remained hung up on her long after she was dead, and Rhaegar was willing to betray his wife and kids and set the world on fire just to be with her.
    Then again, I have seen photos of Katie McGrath that capture the look of Lyanna as many fans pictured her.

  10. Ten Bears: I am troubled by your revelation that a beast
    “gobbled up Katie McGrath in one of the ‘Jurassic’ follow-ups.” I was not aware of that. In fact, although I recognize her name, I’m not too familiar with Katie McGrath’s work.
    I do know that she was a popular fancasting choice to play Lyanna Stark.
    Did she play an innocent victim; self-sacrificing heroine; or deserving villainess/dinosaur snack in a Jurassic Park movie?

    I’d say neither. McGrath’s role was pretty small in the film and I think her character, Zara, was a pretty neutral character. Zara was the main character’s (Claire’s) assistant as Claire is operations manager of the park. As Claire’s assistant, Zara is tasked with supervising Claire’s nephews while Claire works but

    Zara loses track of the boys and spends most of the film looking for them. Basically, when one of their mutated dinosaurs gets loose, all hell breaks out. The pterosaurses also get loose and they make it to the concessions/gift store/etc. part of the park, where Zara and the boys are. Everything is in full chaos, the pterosaurses are picking up visitors at random as prey, including Zara. When they pick her up and are throwing her in the air, she falls into the giant mosasaurus’s tank and the mosasaurus gobbles her up.
  11. Looking forward to more casting announcements… I would love to see Eva Green in this show! She would make a great Targaryen warrior princess!

  12. Adrianacandle,

    Ten Bears,

    Ah! By “I’d say neither”, I was referring to “self-sacrificing heroine; or deserving villainess/dinosaur snack” — I missed the first part! The fate of McGrath’s character was more random and the result of a series of unfortunate events, bad luck, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time — a fate that befalls some of Jurassic Park’s more minor characters (remember the guy on the toilet from the first film?!)

    The park’s biggest, mutated predator figures out how to escape, sparking a series of unfortunate events, including a helicopter crash which is how the pterosaurses escape the aviary and make it to the visitor’s part of the park, which results in Zara’s death.

    (I also think McGrath had more or less the right look to play Lyanna)

  13. death by chickenfire,

    ”…I cannot wait to see your next dragons in action. and you’d also be my favorite figure creator when it comes to a potential series about a certain orange…”

    • I’d bet many of us would relish the opportunity to ask Dan Katcher about his work on GoT and other projects!
    • The short video on his website (linked by Tron79 above) shows snippets from my favorite GoT dragons scenes, e.g., the baby dragons in S1e10, and juvenile dragons in S2 and S3. I haven’t looked to see if he worked on the battleship-sized dragons in latter seasons.
    • Meanwhile… is he definitely going to be working on HotD’s dragons? (I should go back and read the updated post and any linked articles…)
    • A “potential series about a certain orange…”??? Are you referring to the real-life orange-tinged figure I think you’re referring to? A re-telling of current events featuring a CGI creature version of that figure could be a smash hit! The ratings would be huge and powerful!

  14. Adrianacandle,

    Well that’s a shame. So Katie McGrath as Zara had a small role and a less than glorious death.
    I suppose she got a hefty paycheck for a few days of filming? (I never fault actors for taking roles in big budget blockbusters to pay their bills; it often gives them the freedom to take on roles in smaller, indie films.)

  15. Ten Bears: Well that’s a shame. So Katie McGrath as Zara had a small role and a less than glorious death.
    I suppose she got a hefty paycheck for a few days of filming? (I never fault actors for taking roles in big budget blockbusters to pay their bills; it often gives them the freedom to take on roles in smaller, indie films.)

    I think Zara’s death was definitely one of the more memorable scenes of the film! It’s probably the most memorable for me. It freaked me out a ton!

    I don’t think McGrath is a well-known actress outside of the Merlin fanbase though so scoring a role on a blockbuster like this might have been something pretty significant for her, even if the role was relatively small. It was a named speaking role with a respectable amount of screentime and a pretty big moment.

  16. Adrianacandle,

    Oh sh*t! I saw that movie! I did not know that Katie McGrath played that poor woman. Talk about overkill: How many different ways can a person be impaled, bitten, thrashed and gored by so many different dinosaurs in the air, on the ground, and underwater until she’s finally gobbled up by a monster dinosaur while in the jaws of a smaller dinosaur? 😢

  17. Ten Bears:
    Adrianacandle,

    Oh sh*t! I saw that movie! I did not know that Katie McGrath played that poor woman. Talk about overkill: How many different ways can a person be impaled, bitten, thrashed and gored by so many different dinosaurs in the air, on the ground, and underwater until she’s finally gobbled up by a monster dinosaur while in the jaws of a smaller dinosaur? 😢

    Yep, it’s such a freaky scene, including how she’s thrown through the air at such a height — and especially when the mosasaurus emerges from the water and gobbles up both Zara and the pterosaur munching on her. Until that point, I still had (the foolish) hope Zara could escape if she could just swim away. But great dinosaur work!

  18. Katie McGrath needs to be cast as Alicent Hightower, you can also see her performance in Frontier with Jason Mamoa. She would nail the part as Alicent. I have a hunch they have casted Toby Regbo for Aegon the ll, I seen him on a podcast interview for The Last Kingdom a couple months ago and he said right in the beginning of the video , that he had got a call that morning and he was very excited about but he could get in a lot of touble if he said anything , plus he said another thing later in the interview that leads me to believe this is true.

  19. Red Viper:
    Looking forward to more casting announcements… I would love to see Eva Green in this show! She would make a great Targaryen warrior princess!

    She’s okay for looks but her fake “English” accent makes my teeth itch. She could play a part where an English accent isn’t necessary I suppose.

  20. This may be a dumb question – but if a show is set to begin production, does this mean that all initial scripts have been written?

    Very exciting news!

  21. One other thought – if HoTD is a hit, I do wonder if it will be to the final season of GoT what The Mandolorian is to the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

  22. Dame of Mercia: She’s okay for looks but her fake “English” accent makes my teeth itch.She could play a part where an English accent isn’t necessary I suppose.

    • In all fairness, Eva Green is a French actress, and (at least) her “American English” accent was just fine, e.g., in “Dark Shadows,” “Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For,” and “Casino Royale.” [She was a hoot in “Dark Shadows.” 😍 And as “the dame to kill for” in Sin City 2, she played the deliciously wicked femme fatale.]

    – I don’t recall which role(s) required Eva Green to affect an English accent. I’ll defer to your judgment that her “fake English accent” was so bad it made your teeth itch.

    – [Gratuitous Game of Thrones cast member shout-outs follow ]
    In some of Eva Green’s other roles, an English accent wasn’t strictly necessary, such as the Persian forces’ warrior admiral Artemesia in “300: Rise of an Empire” (in which Lena Headey reprised her role from the original “300” as the noble Spartan Queen Gorgo); and as the Queen of Jerusalem in “Kingfom of Heaven,” in which I believe she briefly shared a scene with Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen made a brief cameo toward the end as King Richard the Lionheart.)

    • As much as I enjoyed Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, to my untrained ears his “fake English accent” was cringeworthy, especially in the final few seasons and most notably in Tyrion’s “Bran the Broken” nomination speech in S8e6.
    Am I wrong? In your assessment, how was Peter Dinklage’s English?

    • Some British and Australian actors seem to be able to speak “American English” so fluently that it’s hard to tell they’re not from the U.S. Naomi Watts is a good example. [Damn! I’m still disappointed that HBO pulled the plug on “Blood Moon” because I won’t get a chance to see Naomi Watts in it.]
    Come to think of it, if I’m not mistaken Emilia Clarke is also able to speak “American.” I even heard her do an impeccable California “Valley Girl” accent on a talk show once.

    • I thought there are dialect coaches who specialize in working with actors on their accents. If a “fake accent” is so glaringly obvious to native speakers that it’d be a distraction, you’d think the producers would address that before filming commenced.

    • P.S. Incidentally, I’m curious what you thought about Renee Zellwegger’s English accent in “Bridgette Jones’s Diary,” if you saw that movie.
    When she was cast, lots of book purists were whinging that the role should not have gone to n American actress, but afterwards I believe the consensus was she did a commendable job.

  23. Ten Bears,

    For the longest time I had no idea that Hugh Laurie (House) actually has an English accent in real life. He does a great job of hiding it.

  24. Ten Bears,

    It’s the back of the throat thing that irritates me about EG. I haven’t seen her in that many things but in Penny Dreadful and Camelot the fact she was French and you could tell she was French took me out of it. She has a good command of English but I could tell straightaway she wasn’t English. Wasn’t Vesper supposed to be English though I didn’t see Casino Royale. She may not irritate other English ears the way she irritates my English ears. A few random finds on the web (from a 2006 page about Casino Royale “I’ve seen it twice, and found the second viewing far more enjoyable.

    There’s some real chemistry between Craig and Eva Green, which I haven’t seen in any movie – let alone a Bond – for what seems like ages.

    I hope they start working through the ‘back catalogue’ – I’d love to see an up-to-date look at Live and Let Die!
    rebel_scum
    rebel_scum
    Distinguished Member
    Dec 4, 2006
    #125
    Yeah, the shower scene when he’s comforting her, was surprisingly tender. Shame about her dodgy accent…
    Adios.”- then about the Luminaries though I think she’s supposed to be American there https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8493709/The-Luminaries-fans-baffled-Eva-Greens-accent-say-dark-see.html https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/11989137/the-luminaries-eva-green-accent-bbc/ Maybe it’s just the old different strokes for different folks phenomenon.

    Peter Dinklage’s American accent and NCW’s Danish one sometimes slipped out in GoT but they never annoyed me. I haven’t seen all the Bridget Jones films but thought Renee Zellwegger’s English accent was convincing. Gillian Anderson does a good one too as does Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen.

  25. Dame of Mercia: Peter Dinklage’s American accent and NCW’s Danish one sometimes slipped out in GoT but they never annoyed me. I haven’t seen all the Bridget Jones films but thought Renee Zellwegger’s English accent was convincing. Gillian Anderson does a good one too as does Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen.

    I wonder if Gillian Anderson’s English accent was helped by Anderson spending a good portion of her childhood in London? I believe she grew up in London from ages 2 to 11, when (from what I know of how speech and language develops) her language and speech would still be in the process of development and open to major influence by her environment.

  26. Mr Derp,

    Although they have both gone on to star independently in serious things I still have memories of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry back in the day as a comedy duo in their younger days. They played Jeeves (SF) and Wooster (HL) at one time. https://youtu.be/EqU6lz8bGhA

  27. Mr Derp:
    Ten Bears,

    For the longest time I had no idea that Hugh Laurie (House) actually has an English accent in real life.He does a great job of hiding it.

    Yes! Hugh Laurie is a good example of an “Englishman” talking like an American.
    (I miss Dr. House. And Thirteen (Olivia Wilde).)

  28. Joseph Mobile:
    This may be a dumb question – but if a show is set to begin production, does this mean that all initial scripts have been written?

    • I don’t think that’s a dumb question at all. I too wondered if all of the scripts have been written – especially since HotD was greenlit “sight unseen” at around the same time HBO pulled the plug on Blood Moon (which, as I understand, was further along – and the pilot had already been filmed.)

    This is pure speculation on my part: I suspect that HBO approved HotD based on a brief story treatment – a synopsis or outline, rather than fleshed out episode-by-episode scripts. (The cynic in me thinks an HBO executive listened to a pitch, and heard “Dragons! Dragons! More and bigger dragons!” – and that’s all it took.)

    • On the other hand, the post reporting that production will start in 2021 does say that: “This simple tweet represents months of behind-the-scenes work: coordinating filming schedules and locations, writing scripts, hiring crew, etc. I’m going to assume we can expect much more verified (or at least verifiable) news about HoTD in the very near future…”
    The folks here at watchersonthewall surely know more than I do about the mechanics of production. So maybe scripts have in fact been written???

    • Other questions came to mind when I read the post that production on HotD would start in 2021:
    – First, do the showrunners plan to set up a “bubble” like the NBA did for the basketball playoffs to ensure that none of the players would catch or spread Covid? It worked out real well for the NBA. The arena, training facilities and living quarters were sealed off entirely to eliminate the possibility of infection. Players were tested and re-tested daily or several times a week. There were strict protocols. However, this all meant that the teams and their coaching staffs were isolated from the rest of the world – including their families – for several months.
    Are HotD’s producers proposing to seal off the actors, directors and crew for several months of filming?
    When casting actors, will HotD require them to agree to be sequestered continuously for months on end? I’m not so sure some actors will be willing to be away from their families for that long no matter how much money is on the table.

    – Some film and TV show productions have adapted and introduced innovations, including limiting the set to one or two actors and using CGI and other tricks to insert other characters into the scene. Other productions are using plexiglass partitions and customized ventilation systems to protect their cast and crew. (I recently watched a filmed concert in which the musicians were separated this way: They could all be seen and heard on camera though none of them breathed the same air.)
    Perhaps HotD is planning to do something similar?

    – It’s probably too soon to count on vaccinations to immunize the cast and crew. I guess the projected timing of that – as well as the prevalence of the virus – could depend on the country in which HotD is going to be filmed. (As I understand it, Australia’s got the virus pretty much under control. The USA? Not so much.)

    I thought there was some news a while back about the selection of a principal filming location for HotD. I’ll have to check that out…

    • As far as I know, the show has not finished casting its main characters. Wouldn’t they need to lock in the leads under signed contract before distributing scripts, rehearsing, and beginning filming?

    • Despite all of this, I am optimistic that HotD will in fact get underway by mid-2021.

  29. Dame of Mercia,

    Oh, I forgot to mention Natalie Dormer, who did a pretty convincing New York accent when she played Irene Adler to Jonny Lee Miller’s Sherlock Holmes in the first couple of seasons of CBS’s “Elementary.”*

    It was kind of a shame her popularity exploded and she was in such high demand after appearing as Margaery in GoT: The showrunners of “Elementary” had planned to bring her back but couldn’t coordinate their filming schedules with her other commitments.
    She appeared in “voiceovers” in a few subsequent episodes, e.g., when other characters read letters from her, but her character did not return.
    In fact, a multi-episode arc had been written especially for her as a climax to one of the latter seasons, but the show wound up having to rewrite it to substitute another character in her place. Without Natalie Dormer and her charisma that “climactic” plot line was … anticlimactic.

    * A while back I may have linked snippets of Natalie Dormer as Irene Adler on “Elementary.” She had wonderful chemistry with Jonny Lee Miller. I may post those links again.

    Meanwhile, I never got to watch Natalie Dormer starring in “Penny Dreadful: City of Angels” on Showtime. Did anybody see it? Was it any good? I think it got cancelled after one season. 🤢
    Frankly, I was surprised the sequel was greenlit to begin with, since the original “Penny Dreadful” starring Eva Green got “Dorned”: it was abruptly cancelled after its third season, with a crappy, cobbled-together sendoff that made no sense and pissed off the fandom.

  30. Adrianacandle,

    I am amazed at how actors can masque their true accents. I will say that Maisie Williams has a little more trouble with this. She was trying to do a southern drawl in “The Book of Love”, and I don’t think it was very succcessful. Although I still enjoyed the movie.

    I only had a couple HDM comments. I will say first that I get to talk about Pedro Pascal at our staff meeting tomorrow with his role in The Mandalorian (and also I’m going to work in Black Narcissus too! Believe it or not you can make a very similar case with the help of the nuns of Black Narcissus (and the greek myth of Narcissus himself). Usually the Rabbi’s start the weekly staff meeting with a teaching, but they asked the staff to take turns to teach something, and I have a really good one (I think) using Pedro Pascal as my model of being a humble unselfish actor, since he has to wear the helmet all the time. Pedro’s a good looking guy. Perhaps he just needed the gig, but I thought that was really awesome and brave that he took on a role where no one will see his face. Giving you the gist of it, most of our staff works behind the scenes (under their helmets). Perhaps I can work in dragons or not using GRRM as a model of how to get things done in a different meeting…we shall see.

    Regarding HDM, episode 4 had more action than most of the others. I enjoyed it. I don’t have too many criticisms this time other than I wonder if they will bring in some of the 3rd book for Mary Malone’s character this year. And Dafne Keen is growing on me as the season progresses.

  31. Tron79,

    FYI/Off-Topic

    About Cyndi Lauper:

    Here’s a video of her interview this morning on The View, talking about her upcoming “Home for the Holidays” annual concert.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNdgZ75zil8

    The concert is going to air live this Friday, Dec. 11, 2020 at 8 pm EDT on Tik Tok. Then, it’s going to stream on YouTube and on Facebook on Dec. 13 at 8 pm EDT.

  32. Tron79,

    I only had a couple HDM comments. I will say first that I get to talk about Pedro Pascal at our staff meeting tomorrow with his role in The Mandalorian (and also I’m going to work in Black Narcissus too! Believe it or not you can make a very similar case with the help of the nuns of Black Narcissus (and the greek myth of Narcissus himself). Usually the Rabbi’s start the weekly staff meeting with a teaching, but they asked the staff to take turns to teach something, and I have a really good one (I think) using Pedro Pascal as my model of being a humble unselfish actor, since he has to wear the helmet all the time. Pedro’s a good looking guy. Perhaps he just needed the gig, but I thought that was really awesome and brave that he took on a role where no one will see his face.

    I agree and I think that’s a great idea you have! 🙂

    Regarding HDM, episode 4 had more action than most of the others. I enjoyed it. I don’t have too many criticisms this time other than I wonder if they will bring in some of the 3rd book for Mary Malone’s character this year. And Dafne Keen is growing on me as the season progresses.

    I’m glad you enjoyed episode 4! I think they may be bringing in 3rd book stuff for Mary Malone, I am really enjoying her storyline.

    I liked how they visualized the subtle knife in use with its opening windows to different worlds — as if entrances to these words are like tiny threads all around us.

    I think I also agree with you about Dafne Keen. While I admittedly still think she is too old for the role of 12-year old Lyra since she looks the age she really is (14-15), I see her growing as an actress. There’s a scene of her in episode 5 that I really like.

    My GoT sightings include Richard Madden and Liam Cunningham in Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams anthology series on Amazon comprising of 10 stand-alone episodes. Liam Cunningham is in an episode featuring Bryan Cranston (Walter White from Breaking Bad) while Richard Madden takes a co-starring role in another episode alongside Holliday Grainger 🙂

    This series is sort of like Black Mirror in that it explores different areas of technology and how they may impact humanity but Electric Dreams takes on more science fiction scenarios (alien inhabitation, telepathic species, a rather Amazon-like company that is run by AI and its refusal to stop mass producing goods even when there is no use for them, etc.) I like it a ton! So far, I’ve spotted other familiar faces like Jodie Foster and Anna Paquin 🙂

  33. Ten Bears,

    I didn’t mean to offend about your poster girl, TB. I had a laugh when I saw something in French about your poster girl having coaching to get her French accent back for Dumbo – which film (the remake) I haven’t seen. I stayed silent then – didn’t type “Elle n’a jamais perdu son accent francais!” (sorry I don’t know how to type the cedilla in this website). I was tempted though. Still, ‘twould be a dull world if we were all the same.

    Adriana, possibly having lived in the UK did help the former agent Scully develop a good English accent. Sidse Babett Knudsen spent some time international schools because her parents travelled around and I believe took her with them so that may account for her having an authentic English accents.

    Hayley Mills was a popular child/teenage star when I was even younger than I am now. Walt Disney saw her in something and used her in some of his films. I never thought (as much as my English ears could tell) she didn’t have that good an American accent but she was quite popular nonetheless. Thinking of Disney – and I’ve mentioned this before but it was a while ago, here is a tenuous link to GoT. The girl child in ‘Mary Poppins’ with Julie Andrews was played by Karen Dotrice, daughter of Roy Dotrice who reads the GoT books and played the pyromaster in season 2 GoT. Her big sister, Michele, was one of my fancasts for Aunt Genna but Auntie was lost in adaptation.

  34. HBO is apparently trying to reboot True Blood.

    Rebooting is usually the first sign that they are running out of ideas.

    House of the Dragon cannot come fast enough.

  35. Mr Derp:
    HBO is apparently trying to reboot True Blood.

    They are officially running out of ideas.

    House of the Dragon cannot come fast enough.

    Seriously? The True Blood television series ended in 2014. I wonder if they’re going to try to do an adaptation closer to the Sookie Stackhouse novels but… jeeze… It’s only been 6 years since the end of True Blood.

    I agree, HotD cannot come quickly enough.

  36. Mr Derp,

    Running out of ideas and/or (just like Showtime is doing with Dexter) giving it another go by saying “we know you hate how it turned out, but trust us, this time will be good!”

  37. Joseph Mobile:
    Mr Derp,

    Running out of ideas and/or (just like Showtime is doing with Dexter) giving it another go by saying “we know you hate how it turned out, but trust us, this time will be good!”

    Hmm, a campaign to “Make Dexter Great Again”?

    Maybe HBO will implement this idea with Game of Thrones season…..oh, nevermind 😉 j/k

    South Park tried to warn us about Member Berries, but no one listened!

  38. Adrianacandle: Seriously? The True Blood television series ended in 2014. I wonder if they’re going to try to do an adaptation closer to the Sookie Stackhouse novels but… jeeze… It’s only been 6 years since the end of True Blood.

    I agree, HotD cannot come quickly enough.

    Yes, it will be awesome for HBO and the world when HotD gets released.

    I was curious about Wonder Woman 1984. It’s being released on HBO MAX on December 25th. I just looked at the cast, and YES!! PEDRO PASCAL is in it!!
    I was just talking about him this morning in a work meeting (about his role as the Mandalorian). I didn’t look closely at the rest of the cast to see if there are any other GOT connections. But as Ten Bears indicated, the gluttony of streaming services is becoming a major issue for people. Most now aren’t jumping to signup for another 9.95 a month just for one show (or whatever they charge). And now that HBO has multiple versions of their own service it’s a major issue for people. I happened to subscribe to the MAX version because I really wanted to see Raised by Wolves (it was only on the MAX version), but it’s still not readily available on ROKU. They have it now on Amazon Firestick, and I happen to have a firestick also, so I watch it on the Firestick now instead of having to connect my iphone to my tv. But it’s crazy that HBO has two different versions of their own service. Why is that?????????????? Why would they possibly want to have two different HBOs??? With COVID, there are several big movies going straight to HBO MAX (but not the regular HBO).

    Does anyone know what kind of role Pedro Pascal has in the new Wonder Woman 1984?

  39. Tron79: Does anyone know what kind of role Pedro Pascal has in the new Wonder Woman 1984?

    Maxwell Lord:
    A charismatic businessman and entrepreneur who is famous for TV infomercials. Director Patty Jenkins has stated Pascal’s performance as Lord was inspired by Gordon Gekko from Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and by Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Lex Luthor in Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman film, and denied that Donald Trump was the main influence for the portrayal, with Jenkins describing Lord as “a villain with potential to be dangerous and scary”.

  40. Mr Derp: Maxwell Lord:
    A charismatic businessman and entrepreneur who is famous for TV infomercials.Director Patty Jenkins has stated Pascal’s performance as Lord was inspired by Gordon Gekko from Oliver Stone’s Wall Street and by Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Lex Luthor in Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman film, and denied that Donald Trump was the main influence for the portrayal, with Jenkins describing Lord as “a villain with potential to be dangerous and scary”.

    Aha! Thanks. Sounds like a good role. He does at least get to show his face in this one!

  41. Dame of Mercia,

    ”I didn’t mean to offend about your poster girl, TB.”

    No offense taken. 🙂 And I wouldn’t say Eva Green is my poster girl, though she does have a unique look, and knack for playing mysterious, imperious, wicked, and weird women. (She would’ve made a good Red Priestess to along with Carice van Houten, Ania Bukstein, and Rila Fukushima: their “foreign” accents were an advantage rather then a hindrance.)

    Hayley Mills was a popular child/teenage star when I was even younger than I am now. Walt Disney saw her in something and used her in some of his films. I never thought (as much as my English ears could tell) she didn’t have that good an American accent but she was quite popular nonetheless.”

    Are you thinking about Hayley Mills in “The Parent Trap,” playing twin girls raised separately by their divorced parents (mother in London and father in America)? I don’t recall how good or bad her American accent was.
    You know what though? I saw the remake of “The Parent Trap” starring a precocious, young Lindsay Lohan. I thought she was good – and did a pretty convincing British accent.
    Any thoughts? [If you’ve seen the remake]

    ”Thinking of Disney – and I’ve mentioned this before but it was a while ago, here is a tenuous link to GoT. The girl child in ‘Mary Poppins’ with Julie Andrews was played by Karen Dotrice, daughter of Roy Dotrice who reads the GoT books and played the pyromaster in season 2 GoT…”

    I am a huge fan of Roy Dotrice! And if we’re talking about credible accents, he was a master.
    Roy Dotrice was excellent as the Russian figure skating coach in one of my favorite Guilty Pleasure movies, “The Cutting Edge.”
    He was also good as Mozart’s father in the film version of “Amadeus,” and – GoT link – as “Father” in “The Beauty and the Beast” TV series, for which GRRM was co-producer and writer.

  42. Tron79: Most now aren’t jumping to signup for another 9.95 a month just for one show (or whatever they charge). And now that HBO has multiple versions of their own service it’s a major issue for people. I happened to subscribe to the MAX version because I really wanted to see Raised by Wolves (it was only on the MAX version), but it’s still not readily available on ROKU. They have it now on Amazon Firestick, and I happen to have a firestick also, so I watch it on the Firestick now instead of having to connect my iphone to my tv. But it’s crazy that HBO has two different versions of their own service. Why is that?????????????? Why would they possibly want to have two different HBOs??? With COVID, there are several big movies going straight to HBO MAX (but not the regular HBO).

    Yeah, I’ve been exhausted by the number of streaming platforms and it’s too much money for me to keep up with all of them. I think the more platforms there are, the harder it will be for people to keep on affording them.

  43. TB – looking at my post mentioning Hayley Mills – my wording was clumsy. I thought she was okay as an actress but the American accent a bit dodgy. I thought young Lindsay Lohan’s English accent was quite good. I was saying ‘poster girl’ se–tongue in cheek. I did a bit of googling and it seems the source for ‘The Parent Trap’ was a German story.

  44. Meh, I come here and I see these articles on House of Dragon, and all I can think of is writing the same negative, rambling post about how the show will end up being mediocre because everything Condal has done up until this point seems to have been mediocre. I don’t know how to break out of this funk.

    I was thinking of checking out some things from Condal’s filmography, but nothing is appealing to me. The first two features he wrote, Rampage and Hercules, seem to be lowly rated, mind numbing, big dumb action blockbusters starring The Rock. Then you have Colony which lasted for three seasons on Sci Fi network and seems to have an interesting premise, but has there ever been a memorable show on Sci Fi? Except for, I believe, Battlestar Gallactica which was from ages ago? It seems like Sci Fi has a reputation for poorly crafted, schlocky shows that are geared towards very forgiving science fiction geeks. Then after that is House of Dragon and he also has screenplay credit on two more big action properties, Logan’s Run and Highlander.

    So has anyone actually checked out this guy’s work? Are there any signs he can weave together a complex ensemble narrative featuring deeply flawed characters with plot twists unlike we’ve never seen before? To me, it just seems like he’s the guy in Hollywood who writes turn-your-brain-off, popcorny, action type stuff. Sadly, I think that’s probably what we’re mostly going to get with House of Dragon.

  45. Dame of Mercia,

    Thanks for that linked article. Its writer speculated, in part:

    ”We have heard that a while ago HBO were casting for characters codenamed YR and YA to film in April 2021. At first glance this may not say anything, but if you’re thinking about it, it becomes obvious that they are Young Rhaenyra and Young Alicent. Both women were wanted in their 20s, one a little older than the other.”

    Well, that is nice. I like when shows portray a character’s backstory – much like GoT did with Young Cersei in the S5 cold open, the Bran-o-Vision flashbacks to Young Ned at the Tower of Joy, and Wyllis/Young Hodor in S6e5.

    The real challenge for HotD, like any other show casting a young and older version of the same character, is finding actors* who look enough alike and can adopt the same inflections and mannerisms. (I have to say that while I thought Young Ned’s actor looked enough like a young Sean Bean, I didn’t understand why the younger Lyanna galloping on horseback in the past WF scene in S6 looked nothing like Aisling Franciosi. Whatever. No big deal. I’ve seen more egregious examples…)

  46. One of the most important pieces they need to make this a GoT series is still going to be Ramin Djawadi.
    I’ve been watching some scenes and episodes again recently and am always reminded how much better everything was with his music. Many fantasy series/movies fail in this area and suffer because of it.

  47. Clob,

    How right you are! On rewatch I was impressed how much Ramin Djawadi’s music was integral to the emotion of a scene. Two examples:

    (1) Concluding segment of “The Children” (S4e10)
    [3:52 long clip]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut1VEoOZ2hA

    Ramin Djawadi’s rousing composition, also called “The Children,” starts at about 1:30 and continues through the end credits.

    • Jon Snow named king in S6e10
    [4:40 long clip]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXAnxAA73xM

    The music starts unobtrusively at around 2:16, and then builds to a crescendo along with the drama to the climactic moment at around 4:04 when everybody raises their swords and starts chanting “The King in the North!

  48. Ten Bears:
    Clob,

    How right you are! On rewatch I was impressed how much Ramin Djawadi’s music was integral to the emotion of a scene.Two examples:

    (1) Concluding segment of “The Children” (S4e10)[3:52 long clip]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut1VEoOZ2hA

    Ramin Djawadi’s rousing composition, also called “The Children,” starts at about 1:30 and continues through the end credits.

    • Jon Snow named king in S6e10
    [4:40 long clip]

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXAnxAA73xM

    The music starts unobtrusively at around 2:16, and then builds to a crescendo along with the drama to the climactic moment at around 4:04 when everybody raises their swords and starts chanting “The King in the North!

    Theon and Sansa’s chase music in Season 6 Episode 1 gave me chills. It’s officially called “Feed the Hounds”. I’m pretty sure Ramin Djawadi uses the cello to play the fast bow notes (16th notes) “da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da”
    Chase scene:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv4gj3BlVpA

    I still had a hard time with them surviving the high jump off the wall!! But in the books it made more sense…

    First in the books it wasn’t Sansa, it was Jeyne Poole with Theon. I seem to remember the books saying it was a very deep soft snow drift… Here’s the passage. “The outer wall of Winterfell was eighty feet high, but beneath the spot where he had jumped the snows had piled up to a depth of more than forty. A cold white pillow.”

    Interview with Ramin Djawadi’s use of the cello in the main theme for game of thrones and more…. He likes the cello

  49. Ten Bears,

    Theon and Sansa’s chase music in Season 6 Episode 1 gave me chills. It’s officially called “Feed the Hounds”. I’m pretty sure Ramin Djawadi uses the cello to play the fast bow notes (16th notes) “da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da”
    Chase scene:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv4gj3BlVpA

    I still had a hard time with them surviving the high jump off the wall!! But in the books it made more sense…

    First in the books it wasn’t Sansa, it was Jeyne Poole with Theon. I seem to remember the books saying it was a very deep soft snow drift… Here’s the passage. “The outer wall of Winterfell was eighty feet high, but beneath the spot where he had jumped the snows had piled up to a depth of more than forty. A cold white pillow.”

    Interview with Ramin Djawadi’s use of the cello in the main theme for game of thrones and more…. He likes the cello

  50. Tron79,

    • I don’t want to say it’s the “little things” that helped make GoT so special, because the music, the costume designers, the sound effects, the CGI, the choreography, the editing, the cinematography, the set design, the armorer, the hair stylists, the location scouts, the editors, and so many other craftspeople and artisans all combined to create the highest quality entertainment.

    Even in its less than fabulous episodes, GoT outdid most big budget Hollywood blockbusters. Now I’m spoiled. I find it hard to watch movies and TV shows with special effects that seem clunky by comparison. (Someday I hope to watch a brightened version of “The Long Night” so I can better appreciate the efforts that went into filming it.)

    • I often don’t notice until rewatches, all of the artistry that went into my favorite GoT scenes and episodes – such as sound design and sound effects.
    For example, in the Jon Snow coronation scene I linked above, a sound effects technician must have created the scraping sound of the swords as they were pulled out of their scabbards. In S6e7, right before Lyanna Mormont said “Welcome to Bear Island,” there was a creaking sound of a large, heavy door closing. In S1e1, as Septa Mordane was gushing over Sansa’s needlework and Arya was struggling with hers, the camera then circled around Arya’s head and showed her looking up, distracted by the sounds of the archery practice outside.
    I could go on and on. GoT went the extra mile when it could have easily gotten away with less, and most of us (well, I) would not have noticed.

    • P.S. I need to go back and watch Sansa and Jon reunion scene in S6. I remember thinking how it worked perfectly on so many levels, from Ramin Djawadi’s music, to the camera angles and perspectives (e.g., Sansa looking around, and then Jon staring at her almost in disbelief, before they both rushed into each other’s arms to the accompaniment of “make audience tears start to flow” music. (At least my tears did…)
    I could whinge that I was disappointed that the Arya-Jon reunion wasn’t as emotionally rewarding; that doesn’t take away from whatever the show did so well with Jon-Sansa.

  51. Ten Bears,

    In the season 6 premiere when we first see Arya in Bravos two people are walking by her an they are talking about a Kings guard from Westeros being killed in a brothel. Something I noticed watching it again.

  52. Not going to lie I’m still a little disappointed that they didn’t start with Aegon’s conquest and reign then build up to the Dance of Dragons as a final act. I’ll still watch it but I hope it’s not another “Better Call Saul” spin off – which I liked and they did well making it feel in the same universe but really it’s unnecessary and not comparable with the original series.

  53. mau:
    April 2022 it is then…

    Yep, given the pandemic I can’t see any serious filming starting before May/June so we are looking at early 2022 for it to reach our TV screens realistically.

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