HBO is preparing a return to the land of Westeros, as the first spinoff from the iconic Game of Thrones franchise is officially in production. There are multiple projects related to Game of Thrones in some form of development, but House of the Dragon is by far the furthest along, and it’s set to be released on HBO next year. On Monday, the premium network announced that production House of the Dragon had officially begun, sharing a photo from the first table read with the cast.
The photo, along with the announcement about the start of production, were posted by the official Game of Thrones Twitter account. The tweet also revealed a new account that is dedicated solely to the new series. Take a look at the first behind-the-scenes image below!
Fire will reign 🔥#HouseoftheDragon is officially in production. Follow @HouseofDragon for all updates. pic.twitter.com/lc3dhIcm5u
— 🔥 Game of Thrones 🔥 (@GameOfThrones) April 26, 2021
The House of the Dragon is a prequel to Game of Thrones, taking place 300 years before the flagship series and following the Targaryen family. The series comes from co-showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, the latter of which worked on the original series. Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin serves as executive producer.
Ready Player One‘s Olivia Cooke stars in the series as Alicent Hightower. She’s joined by Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen, Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon a.k.a. The Sea Snake, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, and Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole.
Before House of Dragon, there was another Game of Thrones spinoff that actually shot a pilot, but HBO opted not to move forward with it. The network also dropped a couple of other projects, before moving forward with House of the Dragon and taking on a few subsequent ideas.
HBO never intended on moving on from Game of Thrones, as network head of programming Casey Bloys confirmed last year, when he compared the franchise’s potential to that of Marvel or Star Wars.
“Those are fantastic properties that are decades and decades old,” Bloys said. “I don’t know that it would get that big, but certainly it is a great resource that we have and an amazing world. So I don’t think it’s just going to be the one [show] for the rest of its life.”
Are you looking forward to House of the Dragon next year? Let us know in the comments!