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Dragons Confirmed To Return In Game of Thrones Spinoff
From the mouth of George R.R. Martin himself, dragons will be returning to Westeros in at least one of the upcoming Game of Thrones TV show spinoffs. Martin is, of course, the 70-year-old writer of A Song of Ice and Fire, whose books on which Game of Thrones is based. HBO's Game of Thrones TV show concluded its run earlier this year with season 8 and, though it proved to be a divisive finale to the immensely popular show, the network is already at work to continue the franchise.
Even before Game of Thrones ended, HBO announced its intentions to launch multiple spinoffs in the wake of their massively successful fantasy epic. At one point, up to five such Game of Thrones prequels, sequels, and other companion series were being considered. HBO ordered a pilot of one prequel starring Naomi Watts written by Jane Goldman, and another Game of Thrones prequel about the Targaryens is close to getting a pilot order. Martin has publicly spoken about the potential Game of Thrones prequel spinoffs before now, but had yet to outright confirm the presence of the incredibly impressive (and expensive) dragons, which helped make the original show a household name.
In a recent post on his blog, titled Not A Blog, Martin wrote,"I can say that there will be dragons. Everyone else has said that, so why not me?" In the Sept. 16 post, "I Could Tell You..." (and followed up with the caption "...but then I'd have to kill you"), Martin expressed approval for the projects currently being developed; he admitted that he got a look recently at some of the Belfast, Ireland sets for Goldman's untitled prequel, and called what he saw "spectacular." He also called the scripts for the Targaryen prequel TV show, reportedly based on the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons, "terrific, first-rate, [and] exciting."
However, in response to the recent reports that this Targaryen prequel is close to a pilot order, Martin pointed out it's not the same as the network actually order a new show to pilot. "When HBO actually gives us a pilot order, you will hear me shouting it from the rooftops," Martin said in his blog post, adding, "Right now all the signs are good, but nothing is confirmed."
Dragons aren't the only prominent feature of the Game of Thrones universe set to return. The two projects Martin seems particularly interested in, Ryan Condal's "Dance of the Dragons" series and Goldman's prequel based on the Long Night, are steeped in lore and history from the world of Westeros. He hinted that Condal's show would be taking more than a few cues from Fire & Blood, an anthology book that covers the history of the Targaryens in vivid detail. He's open to those history notes being used for more shows, too, stating, "I think television has plenty of room for two shows set in Westeros… or hell, maybe three or four…" Whether he actually doesn't know or whether he'd have his tongue removed for telling, it doesn't sound like we'll get much more out of Martin before HBO drops some official news on the Game of Thrones spinoffs.
