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House of the Dragon showrunner on Thrones prequel: ‘This is something else and should be something else’
That said, they plan to keep the original color palette — and the dragons.
The co-showrunner for House of the Dragon, the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series, wants people to know that it will honor the spirit of the original HBO series. He also wants folks to know that, respect for the original aside, it will also be its own thing.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Miguel Sapochnik explained that although they aren’t ditching everything from the original series created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — he and his team saw no need to jettison GoT's color palette, for example — it won’t be a retread.
“I think we were very respectful of what the original show is,” said Sapochnik, who is overseeing the series along with co-showrunner and co-creator Ryan Condal. “It wasn’t broken, so we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel.”
He explained further: “House of the Dragon has its own tone that will evolve and emerge over the course of the show. But first, it’s very important to pay respects and homage to the original series, which was pretty groundbreaking. We’re standing on the shoulders of that show and we’re only here because of that show So, the most important thing for us to do is to respect that show as much as possible and try and complement it rather than reinvent it.”
Sapochnik noted that since he “was involved in making the original show,” including directing such episodes as “Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter,” he believes “that’s been useful.” Having said that, the House of the Dragon co-creator made it clear that this won’t just feel like a copy the previous series — or like an unofficial Season 9 of GoT.
“This is something else and should be something else. It’s a different crew, different people, different tone,” he said. “Hopefully, it will be seen as something else. But it will have to earn that — it won’t happen overnight.”
Based on author George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon takes place roughly 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and focuses on the story of House Targaryen. The series stars Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Matt Smith, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Rhys Ifans, and Sonoya Mizuno.
House of the Dragon arrives on HBO Max in 2022.
