Filming/News/Production/Speculation

Beginning of Production on ‘House of the Dragon’ Confirmed by HBO!

Posted on by Samantha
Caption
IT HAS BEGUN (Photo: @HBO)

Well, we can finally start referring to House of the Dragon, the Game of Thrones spinoff centered on the Targaryens and their infamous civil war, as “in production,” because photos tweeted and ‘grammed from official accounts today left no doubt. This series is off the ground, folx!

After several eyebrow-lifting tweets from the official HBO Max and Game of Thrones Twitter accounts earlier today had us wondering a) Are they just trolling? or b) If this is leading to an announcement, stop before it gets as bad as the block of ice promo, GoT made it OFFICIAL-official by tweeting out the above photo and the simple message “Fire will reign”: HoTD is in production as of today.

Immediately after, the House of the Dragon Twitter account sent out a series of photos, mostly of the “main” cast, at what looks like a table read:

(I would just like to add how baller Paddy Considine looks wearing sunglasses and a knit cap indoors)

HBO UK tweeted out the same photos, as did HoTD‘s Instagram account, along with confirmation that the show will indeed premiere in 2022.

We’re SO excited to have the official word that this series is taking wing (heh) and we can dive back into the heady waters of speculation — and even more excited for HoTD to premiere next year! Stay tuned and we’ll share everything we find out as soon as we find it!

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Samantha

24 Comments

  2. Whoo-hoo!! Can’t come fast enough. I’m aaaalmost exhausted watching old episodes of MST3K & Rifftrax. 😛

  5. This is good news! It’s very nice to get another look at Emma D’Arcy with this as well, she’s a bit elusive 🙂

  7. In addition to the socially-distant table(s) read, I like the non-paper approach. It appears HBO learned well from the wholesale leak of Season 7. (I wonder if this script was also double-encrypted?)

    Looking forward to our return trips to Westeros!

  8. That picture looks like the lair of an evil crime syndicate…😂…especially how the desks are spaced out…the low ceiling…😃😝👍👍

  9. Oh wow, so its really really happening now, YAY!

    Now, what I am wondering is… BEWARE THIS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

    Where are Princes Aegon, Aemond, Daeron and princess Haelaena? I used to think it was because they were gonna introduce Alicent as a young girl, taking care of the king but it really doesnt make any sense if Rhaenyra is THAT old, maybe they are making them the same age so they can be paralels of each other?

  10. OberonYronwood: Where are Princes Aegon, Aemond, Daeron and princess Haelaena? I used to think it was because they were gonna introduce Alicent as a young girl, taking care of the king but it really doesnt make any sense if Rhaenyra is THAT old, maybe they are making them the same age so they can be paralels of each other?

    Now that you bring it up, I was hoping they’d be starting off with Rhaenyra’s childhood too — maybe they are giving it some coverage in the first few episodes but haven’t cast child!Rhaenyra yet? (I’m assuming that’s the case for the other characters mentioned — but I don’t think they show up in the earlier part of the story, right?)

  12. Exciting news!

    I’m also wondering how they’ll handle the timeline and characters’ ages.

    Are they going to show much of the background of the Dance or jump right in?! Are they going to condense the timeline before the actual Dance, maybe tweak the characters’ ages etc?

    I’ve read most of the published material by GRRM but I won’t be a book purist! Books are books, TV shows are TV shows, two different mediums. 🙂

    I’ll also try not to spoil those who haven’t read the books!

  13. Tensor the Mage, Still Loving the Ending:
    In addition to the socially-distant table(s) read, I like the non-paper approach. It appears HBO learned well from the wholesale leak of Season 7. (I wonder if this script was also double-encrypted?)

    Looking forward to our return trips to Westeros!

    Doesn’t seem to be totally non-paper, as many of the actors seem to be making notes with a pen on paper, though! 😀

    And that should be safe enough: their own acting notes – might be cryptic to anybody who wasn’t there – that can only accessed by… well, stealing their bag or burglaring their home.

    Anyway, I don’t think there’s such intense interest in this new show as there was in the ending of GOT in 2016-2019.

    This is a new, untested show; also, book readers already know how it ends. (Yes! Something from GRRM that we actually KNOW the ending of!)

    Of course there is a horde of self-important internet “personages” who’ll try to increase their clicks, viewership, earnings, cred, whatever, by delivering “scoops” = spoiling those who haven’t read the books. (Not “scoops” to those who’ve read the published GRRM material.)

    This site is very clear that they have read the books but won’t spoil. I’ll try my best to stick to that, and refresh my memory of how to hide spoilers on this site.

    I’m really looking forward to this show. It was my first choice for a GOT spin-off. I only thought several dragons could be a budget problem…

    But CGI is advancing by leaps and bounds and therefore becoming more affordable. Twenty adult dragons in 2021 probably cost as little (or much) as three tiny baby dragons in 2011, and even look better!

  14. talvikorppi:
    But CGI is advancing by leaps and bounds and therefore becoming more affordable.Twenty adult dragons in 2021 probably cost as little (or much) as three tiny baby dragons in 2011, and even look better!

    If that’s true, I wonder why the dragons in the Witcher looked so terrible.

  15. For those who haven’t “read the books”, the published GRRM material includes:

    Two novellas ( The Rogue Prince (2014) and The Princess and the Queen (2013)), which were published in anthologies of fantasy writing. I haven’t read these versions.

    Both of these were originally supposed to be part of the lavishly illustrated “coffee table book” The World of Ice and Fire (2014) but were too long. So were published separately as novellas in anthologies. The gist of those stories, in abridged form, was recounted in The World of Ice and Fire. (Which I have read.)

    Next, in 2018, GRRM published part I of his definitive Targaryen history, Fire and Blood (part I, gods old and new know when we’ll get part II !)

    The earlier novellas and World Book information about the Dance of the Dragons seem to be incorporated in and elaborated on in Fire and Blood. I can’t be sure because I haven’t read the novellas.

    So, those are “the books” the book readers (and book purists) will be referring to.

  16. Young Dragon: If that’s true, I wonder why the dragons in the Witcher looked so terrible.

    It’s not only about money, it’s also about competent people given creative freedom, the time (OK, a budget) to do their stuff.

    I haven’t watched the Witcher, but maybe they didn’t have competent people, or maybe they had competent people but stinted on their budget? Resource allocation.

    Producer: We want a dragon… It’s going to cost WHAT?… No, just get us a dragon, half the price!

    So you get a half-price dragon.

    Also not conducive of making the creative CGI people, however competent, to go the extra mile to create realistic dragons, if they’re told to do it on the cheap.

    If these highly specialised and competent people are being, in effect, being told that their special skills and work aren’t worth much… Well, you get “not worth much” work.

    So it’s not a problem of what’s possible in CGI, but a problem of management, production and resource allocation.

  17. talvikorppi:
    Exciting news!

    I’m also wondering how they’ll handle the timeline and characters’ ages.

    Are they going to show much of the background of the Dance or jump right in?! Are they going to condense the timeline before the actual Dance, maybe tweak the characters’ ages etc?

    I’ve read most of the published material by GRRM but I won’t be a book purist! Books are books, TV shows are TV shows, two different mediums.

    I’ll also try not to spoil those who haven’t read the books!

    No idea about where the story would start but I feel it would start somewhere during the reign of Viserys I. So not really “jumping” into Dance of Dragons but I doubt we’ll start as far back as the Great Council after the reign of Jaehaerys I. But who knows.

  18. talvikorppi: So it’s not a problem of what’s possible in CGI, but a problem of management, production and resource allocation.

    As a graphic artist, yup. And… you get what you pay for, including skill set, expertise, and education — including in the latest tools and techniques (which costs the artist money as well). Additionally, a more skilled and experienced 3D and CGI artist will cost more than somebody in school/just out of school with the typical level of skill for that level of experience. A budget and the quality of resources available, including time, can determine what level of artist and quality of product you can get for the project.

    I’ve seen the Witcher and while I enjoy the series, the CGI is a bit more budget than what HBO seems able to offer, which would impact the quality of CGI.

  19. Adrianacandle,

    You know what? Thats a pretty good idea, maybe we’ll see a younger Rhaenyra on the first episodes of the show and we’ll see her growing up during the first season or something.

    Oh, I just realised something…

    SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

    What if we also start the show with another dead Arryn, just like in GoT but instead of Jon Arryn is Queen Aemma Arryn, that would be a nice touch.

  20. OberonYronwood,

    Yeah, they kind of did that with The Tudors, right? Young Mary was a child in season 1 but for seasons 2-4, Sarah Bolger played a teen and adult Mary. I don’t think they’ll spend an entire season on Rhaenyra being a child, especially since Emma D’Arcy is already cast and at the table reading, but perhaps it’s possible they’ll have Rhaenyra as a child for one or two episodes? Especially since:

    Major events happen when Rhaenyra is a child, including Viserys disinheriting Daemon over his comments about Aemma and their passed infant son and then Rhaenyra’s public presentation as Viserys’s heir in defiance of the precedent set at the Great Council of 101.

    I think it’s important to show Rhaenyra as a child for this because she literally grew up with this idea of being Viserys’s heir and that she’d be queen one day. She was also celebrated as the “realm’s delight” during this time as well.

    Also, nice point about Queen Aemma! 😀

    Btw, if you want the code for how to hide things under spoilers, I wrote up this quick template: here!

  21. I was definitely disappointed by the dragon in The Witcher, especially given how great the other monsters looked. The others were mostly practical effects, though. Whether it was budget or a bad studio, the CGI in the show wasn’t that great. Whatever else you might say about Game of Thrones last few seasons, the dragons looked terrific. I don’t think they’ll let us down there. HBO will surely employ exactly the same people.

    On a semi-related note, though, I don’t know how much you can rely solely on technical advances. I remember being underwhelmed by the charge of the Knights of the Vale in Battle of the Bastards, in large part because of how much smaller in scale it looked compared to the Ride of the Rohirrim from the Battle of Pelennor Fields in Return of the King, which was 18 years ago now. Jurassic Park, Alien, and even 2001: A Space Odyssey still look way better than a lot of stuff being produced today.

  22. I look at the casting and the wardrobe from some of the set photos and I can’t yet decide if it’s going to feel like Pirates of the Carribean to me. Most of the cast are new to me so I have no bias either way but it feels like a big leap into the unknown on how this will pan out.

  24. Adam,

    True. Some of the movies you mentioned used puppets or actual creations instead of solely relying on CGI. There’s a certain amount soullessness that CGI brings to the table.

    The scene in “Alien” when the alien bursts through Kane’s chest was a complete surprise to the actors on set. Their reactions were real.

    Movies that use pure CGI just have no soul, IMO.

    It’s easier to act when you have something tangible to work with.

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