House of the Dragon

House of the Dragon is an American fantasy drama television series created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO. A prequel to Game of Thrones (2011–2019), it is the second television series in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire franchise. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik served as the showrunners for the first season. Based on parts of Martin's 2018 book Fire & Blood, the series begins about 100 years after the Seven Kingdoms are united by the Targaryen conquest, nearly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen. Featuring an ensemble cast, the show portrays the events leading up to the decline of House Targaryen, a devastating war of succession known as the "Dance of the Dragons".

House of the Dragon received a straight-to-series order in October 2019, with casting beginning in July 2020 and principal photography starting in April 2021 in the United Kingdom. The series premiered on August 21, 2022, with the first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was renewed for a second season five days after its premiere. Sapochnik departed as showrunner after the first season, leaving Condal to serve as the sole showrunner for the second season. The second season premiered on June 16, 2024, with eight episodes. In June 2024, ahead of the second-season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season.

The series received positive reviews, with praise for its character development, visual effects, writing, score by Ramin Djawadi, and performances (particularly Considine, Smith, D'Arcy and Cooke). However, the pacing, specifically of the time jumps, and the dark lighting of some scenes during the first season were criticized. The series premiere was watched by over 10 million viewers across the linear channels and HBO Max on the first day, the biggest in HBO's history. For its first season, House of the Dragon won a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama, while Emma D'Arcy earned a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama. It earned nine Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series, and won three British Academy Television Craft Awards. D'Arcy received another Golden Globe Award nomination for their performance in the second season.

In 2015, with Game of Thrones still in production, HBO executives approached A Song of Ice and Fire writer George R. R. Martin regarding possible successors or spin-offs to the series. In November 2018, Martin stated that a "potential spin-off series would be solidly based on material in Fire & Blood." Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss stated they wanted to "move on" from the franchise and declined involvement in subsequent projects. By September 2019, a Game of Thrones prequel series from Martin and Ryan Condal that "tracks the beginning of the end for House Targaryen" was close to receiving a pilot order from HBO. The following month, House of the Dragon was given a straight-to-series order. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, who won an Emmy Award for directing the episode "Battle of the Bastards", were selected to serve as showrunners. In 2016, Condal pitched the idea of a series based on Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg, however HBO initially passed on it. Sapochnik was also hired to direct the series premiere as well as additional episodes. The series begins 172 years before the events of Game of Thrones during the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen, ultimately leading to the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. The project is a reworking of the rejected spin-off concept from Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman, on which HBO officially passed.

Inspiration for the series came from English medieval history and the Anarchy, a war of succession after the death of Henry I of England between his nephew Stephen of Blois and only surviving child, Empress Matilda, who had fled to Normandy in the 12th century. In January 2020, Casey Bloys, HBO's president of programming, stated that writing had begun. Writers for the show include Condal and Sara Hess, who previously wrote for Deadwood and Orange Is the New Black. Martin was also involved in the pre-production, providing input on storylines and reviewed scripts and rough cuts. On August 26, 2022, less than a week after its premiere, the series was renewed for a second season. On August 31, Miguel Sapochnik stepped down as director and co-showrunner for the second season, but remained an executive producer. Sapochnik stated, "It was incredibly tough to decide to move on, but I know that it is the right choice for me, personally and professionally." Alan Taylor, who directed Game of Thrones episodes, joined in season two and serves as an executive producer and director. Following the second season renewal, Bloys stated that it was expected to premiere in 2024. Hess told Variety in late December 2022 that most of season 2 had been written and would include a revenge plot against Alicent following the events of the first-season finale. The second season consists of eight episodes and premiered on June 16, 2024. On his personal blog in December 2023, Martin stated the third and fourth seasons are being written. In June 2024, ahead of the second-season premiere, the series was renewed for a third season. After the second season finished airing in August 2024, Condal said the series is intended to end after the fourth season.

It was very important for Miguel and I to create a show that was not another bunch of white people on the screen. We wanted to find a way to put diversity in the show, but we didn't want to do it in a way that felt like it was an afterthought or, worse, tokenism.

In the novels, members of House Velaryon are generally described as having "silver-gold hair, pale skin, and violet eyes", similar to the Targaryens. However, Condal and Sapochnik wanted to introduce more racial diversity with its casting. Game of Thrones was criticized for lacking a diverse cast and including cultural stereotypes. As a result, House Velaryon are portrayed as black in the television series. According to Condal, Martin, while writing the novels, considered making the Velaryons a house of black aristocrats who traveled to Westeros from the culturally diverse area of Valyria. Despite initial fan criticism of the ethnicity change, publications and commentators stated it helped distinguish between the large number of characters between the two families.

Fire & Blood is written in the style of a history book authored by an in-universe fictional historian studying the Targaryen dynasty and various civil conflicts. The novels of A Song of Ice and Fire, however, are more immersive, with each chapter written in a third-person limited perspective from the immediate point of view of a character. As a result, some accounts of events recorded in Fire & Blood are second-hand narrations that are potentially speculative or distorted, therefore making the narrator unreliable from the reader's perspective. In an effort to make the story more clear for viewers, the show writers decided to portray the book events in chronological order from a third-person perspective.