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Game of Thrones Prequel Show Will Have 17 Dragons
The Game of Thrones prequel series will feature 17 dragons, according to author George R.R. Martin. HBO's popular television show based on Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire ran for eight seasons from 2011-19 and set viewership records for the network while on the air, with many considering it among the greatest shows of all time. House of the Dragon, a prequel set in the same world, is scheduled to premiere in 2022.
As Game of Thrones neared its conclusion, HBO sought to capitalize on the show's popularity by setting up a successor, and several spin-offs are currently in development. Two prequels were commissioned in 2018 and '19, but in the face of Game of Thrones season 8 receiving significant backlash, the high-profile pilot for Bloodmoon was ultimately not ordered to series. The surviving show, House of the Dragon, will take place around 200 years before the events of the original series and depict the beginning of House Targaryen's fall from power.
As befits the show's title, Martin confirms on the podcast The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of that House of the Dragon will feature 17 dragons. When asked if there was something about the upcoming series he was particularly excited about, the author says this story was always a favorite of his, and he's looking forward to seeing it brought to life. More specifically, though, he's excited to see a higher volume of dragons:
I've always thought this was a cool story, it's one I like, so I'm looking forward to seeing it come alive on screen. And of course I'm looking forward to the dragons! Obviously, I love the dragons. We had three of them in Game of Thrones but now we got like 17 of them. And hopefully, they’ll each have their own personalities, they’ll be instantly recognizable when you see them, the colors and all of that, because the dragons do have personalities in the books, and it’ll be great to see that come alive. And the dragon riders. That’s all pretty cool.
Elsewhere in the discussion, Martin shed some light on HBO's ultimate abandonment of the Bloodmoon pilot, which he claims was not one of his original pitches for a successor series. Instead, "there were a number of other shows that were developed at that time," he says, "most of them put together by writers that HBO hired, who had never read my books. [...] And when we were getting into this, I didn't want that anymore." He was impressed with House of the Dragon co-creator Ryan J. Condal's familiarity with his work, and notes that "none of those [other] shows ultimately got on the air."
Martin's tidbit about the number of dragons has to have Game of Thrones fans excited. The depiction of Daenerys' three dragons in the original series was often singled out for praise, and the opportunity to see that replicated with 17 of the mythical creatures is a compelling reason to check out House of the Dragon. Another reason, for many, is that Martin himself is a series co-creator, while Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have no involvement whatsoever.
