With House of the Dragon, George RR Martin finally got the series he wanted

In the five years that the executives HBO they were considering carefully a worthy successor to the series Game of Thrones, George RR Martin hasn’t stopped pushing an idea: his story of the rise and fall of the Targaryen family, knights of dragons, narrative set nearly 200 years before the events of game of Thrones. And the House of the Dragon arrived.

There was a reluctance among the HBO troops to create a series that, like the original, faced a dispute over Game of Thrones. Two writers charged with working on the Targaryen concept appeared and disappeared, but Martin didn’t want to give up on the project.

Then, after HBO shot – and turned down – an isolated pilot episode of the prequel game of Thrones, Martin’s tenacity has won. At the end of 2019, The house of the dragon (the house of the dragon) got the order to become serial. Its creator is Martin, along with Ryan Condal.

A risky bet, successful

The house of dragonsfirst derivative series, detachment or spin-off, from game of Thrones, premiered on Sunday, August 21, and the bet HBO made with it was a high one. A success could prove the viability of the Thrones cinematic universe. And, only in the United States, 9.9 million people watched it.

In a conversation late last month, George RR Martin, the man who has meticulously constructed the Thrones universe in his various books for the past three decades, discussed why he was drawn to this idea, his ambitions for future spin-offs and how his developing books move away from the controversial ending of game of ThronesTV series.

The following are modified fragments of our conversation.

-Two writers worked on developing your Targaryen story and got nowhere. What prompted him to insist on her?

-I didn’t want to leave her. There was a lot of material already written and it had everything I thought we needed for a successful series. She had all the intrigues around the Iron Throne. He had the big houses in question. He had dragons – many dragons – and battles and betrayals.

-The House of the Dragon has thematic coincidences with The Throne of Swords: the family rivalry, the struggle for the throne. How is it different?

–game of Thrones and my version of the book, Song of ice and fire, are, in a sense, classics of high fantasy in the style of Tolkien and many writers who followed him. However, it is true that, in a certain sense, I am deconstructing those tropes, those myths, things that were its characteristics. But I also follow them to some extent.

The house of the dragon it’s more of a historical fiction with some dragons. It’s like a Shakespearean tragedy.

The controversial ending of Game of Thrones

It’s been a little over three years since Game of Thrones ended in a way that has disappointed many fans. What do you think of the ending?

-One of the things about the last few seasons of the series was: how many seasons would it have? and producers they spent years saying they wanted to finish in seven seasons. Well, seven became eight because season eight is actually the second half of season seven, like a long season.

But for me I never thought seven or eight seasons was enough. I campaigned for 10 seasons and we could have gotten to 12. There is enough material – and there will definitely be more when I finish these last two books – to sustain 12 seasons.

But I lost that fight and we’re left with eight. I think one of the biggest complaints about those last few seasons is not only that it happened – although there are complaints about it – but also that it happened too suddenly, without being prepared. If we had had 10 or 12 seasons, I think it would have been better.

Given the reaction there has been, what is your degree of concern for the new series, in terms of people who are too tired to go back to the Thrones universe or who enjoy going back to draw their daggers, whatever happens ?

-I usually see people’s comments online and sometimes they email me directly. I am also worried about something similar regarding my book. As you know, winter winds will come out very, very late: the last book dates back to 11 years ago and people are very angry about it. But how many people?

The house of the dragon and any other landslides that are to come, e winter winds when it comes out, they will have to face an immediate reaction e some resistance from people who don’t want to give them a chance also.

-We say that The Dragon’s House is a success. What would your ideal ambition be in that case? A whole fleet of Thrones-like series?

-Well, we are developing other spin-offs. and heThe Jon Snow sequel seriesand the rest are all prequels. This The ten thousand ships, about the warrior princess Nymeria, which takes place about a thousand years earlier and talks about the arrival of the Rhoynar in Dorne. It is an epic similar to the Odyssey.

There are the nine voyages of Corlys Velaryon, the Sea Serpent, which would take us to places in the world we have never seen.

We have some animation series going on, one of them is set in Yi Ti, which is basically the fantasy version of Imperial China or the Far East. We have a great script for that. Of course, not all of these shows we’re developing will air, but I hope some of them will.

The models you admire

Is there a model you admire? Something like Marvel?

-Yes, I like what Marvel is doing because I like the variety of programs. Another model that I find interesting is the old Mary Tyler Moore Show. That show spawned a number of spin-offs: for example, Rhoda, about the friend. Phyllis also had her sitcom.

And what really turned me on was Lou Grant. They took a character from a sitcom and turned him into the lead in a serious news series. Taking the character from a comic role and making him the center of a serious show is an incredible thing. I’d like to see a whole range of programs from us.

Before House of the Dragon got the green light, HBO shot a full pilot for a series set 1,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Eventually the project was canceled. What was wrong?

-Well, I didn’t see the pilot. For some reason, he wasn’t taught to me, so I don’t know. It was, in a way, more of a challenge because in that case they were really going far, far back in the past. In my books the Long Night is mentioned here and there, but it is a very ancient event that tales are told: it is like the Garden of Eden or a biblical flood.

I remember when we started developing that I said, “Guys, you are coming back; if they decided to make a prequel The Sopranos they would speak of the Etruscans, the ancestors of Tony Soprano. They might even talk about cavemen. “