UPDATE: Oct. 29,??t nhau tr?c ti?p 2019, 8:16 p.m. ESTHBO announced that it has ordered House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel series about House Targaryen, straight to series. George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal are credited as co-creators, and Condal will serve as showrunner with Miguel Sapochnik.
The ten-episode series will be based on Martin’s Fire & Blood, set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones. Condal will write the show, and Sapochnik will direct the pilot.
Original story, published under the headline "One 'GoT' prequel canceled. Why we have hope another one could work," follows.
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So, the untitled Age of Heroes Game of Thronesprequel is dead, as the trades reported Tuesday afternoon; the pilot wasn't picked up for a series at HBO.
In the name of hype it may seem like it's time to panic about the future of Thrones, but everything is actually fine. Even though this prequel didn't work out, there are rumors of another in very early development at HBO — and going on what we know about the two prequels, the one that might yet be produced makes more sense for the future of the franchise.
From what we know about the Age of Heroes, Jane Goldman's now-canceled series would have focused on characters who lived 10,000 years before the events of Game of Thrones. George R.R. Martin's canon encyclopedia/companion book The World of Ice and Firedoesn't say much about this time period (its events were poorly documented in-universe), but there is enough to know that Westeros in the Age of Heroes was basically unrecognizable compared to the world of Thrones.
The Starks were around back then, but the Lannisters, Tyrells, Arryns, Baratheons, and Martells weren't. The Seven Kingdoms didn't exist, hundreds of smaller lords and kings warred constantly, and iconic places like the Red Keep, The Wall, and Harrenhall hadn't yet been built. An Age of Heroes–based prequel would require Thronesfans to completely reorient their understanding of the continent and essentially start from scratch caring about people with unfamiliar names in mostly unfamiliar locations, which is a reset that most prequels can't afford to maintain audience interest.
The other Thronesprequel "in the works" at HBO is allegedly about the Targaryen conquest of Westeros, which took place a short 300 years before Robert Baratheon became king. Almost all of the main players of Game of Thrones have direct ancestors who are relevant to that story, and in telling it the prequel could answer questions like "why does Dorne have a Prince when everyone else is just a Lord" and "why does everyone think the Tyrells are trashy when they're so darn rich?"
SEE ALSO: The most important takeaways from George R. R. Martin's new book 'Fire and Blood'The Targaryen prequel would be a deep-dive into the game that set up the Game of Thrones, whereas the Age of Heroes prequel would be...well, we'll never really know. But it would have been a lot more work to watch.
The Targaryen prequel is a complete story.
There's one more excellent reason why this Targaryen prequel might be better equipped for success on HBO — a reason that seems especially relevant considering the not-unpopular opinion that Game of Throneswent a little off the rails after showrunners Benioff and Weiss ran out of George R.R. Martin's source material: The Targaryen prequel is a complete story.
George R.R. Martin's Fire and Bloodbook has all the history anyone would need to adapt the complete tale of the Targaryens, with the extra-helpful bonus of that story having an actual ending. There's plenty of room to play around in the story of Aegon's conquest and fascinating fan theories that, if confirmed, could change the way people watch Game of Thrones. That's seems like a much easier way to keep the original show's millions of viewers interested.
Also, come on. This one would have dragons. Can't do a Thronesshow without dragons.
Topics Game Of Thrones HBO House of the Dragon