Why HBO Max’s ‘House of the Dragon’ is Good News AND Bad News for ‘Game of Thrones’ Fans

To get at the heart of why some Game of Thrones fans are chaffed about the House of the Dragon announcement, you need to understand that it doesn’t really have anything to do with House of the Dragon itself. It has everything to do with optics. 

Over the weekend, Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss attended the Austin Film Festival and gave a remarkably frank Q&A. It was remarkable because the duo basically listed all their mistakes, missteps, and proverbial sins. As Twitter user @ForArya detailed, the duo admitted that they thought of showrunning Game of Thrones as “basically an expensive film school.” They also copped to not really understanding the characters at first, being told to stuff the first season with extra scenes, and going too far with some of the violence.

For fans who were dismayed by the ending of Game of Thrones finale, it seemed to confirm that Benioff and Weiss had never been up to the task of shepherding George RR Martin’s epic to the screen. Furthermore, Benioff and Weiss are straight white men and there is a feeling among some that they received chances that other more seasoned writers and directors might not have gotten on sheer privilege.

On the heels of all this, it was finally reported that HBO would not be moving forward with Jane Goldman’s Game of Thrones prequel. That series’s pilot was written by a woman (with involvement from George RR Martin) and directed by a woman, SJ Clarkson. The biggest name in the cast was Naomi Watts. The whole ensemble was full of people of color and actresses of all ages. The hope among Game of Thrones fans was that the series might show a more diverse side of Westerosi history, and through a female perspective. Perhaps the pilot was a mess, but famously so was Benioff and Weiss’s first stab at Game of Thrones. Benioff and Weiss got a second chance, so why not Jane Goldman?

Finally, news about House of the Dragon‘s straight-to-order series pick-up came only a few hours after word got out that Goldman’s pilot was scrapped. Furthermore, House of the Dragon was created by two white men (George RR Martin and Ryan Condel) and will be show-run by Condel and veteran Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik.

So for fans hoping for a new and diverse take on Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon just sounds like more of the same old sh*t.

So looking at House of the Dragon‘s announcement from a PR perspective, yeah, there’s reason for some Game of Thrones fans to be concerned. Not to mention that the straight-to-series order feels rushed in comparison to the process of making a pilot, tinkering with it, and moving forward when it’s perfect. (Which is what happened with Game of Thrones, and seemed to be happening with Goldman’s prequel project.)

Still, Game of Thrones fans have a lot of reasons to still be excited about House of the Dragon. The series will be based not on a few lines of lore, but hundreds of pages of published material. Last year, George RR Martin published Fire & Blood, the first of two volumes of Targaryen family history.

George RR Martin has thought a lot about Aegon’s Conquest. In Fire & Blood, we get vivid portraits of Aegon Targaryen, his sisters Visenya and Rhaenerys, and their half-brother Orys Baratheon. Martin introduces yet more fascinating characters, from Meria Martell, the stubborn ruler of Dorne, to Torren Stark, the King in the North who kneeled. The drama is operatic in its scope, full of brutal battles, tragic losses, and explosive imagery.

Still Fire & Blood just hints at history. You get the sense there’s still more to the story, and that the Targaryens aren’t really the heroes of their own saga. House of the Dragon promises to dig into this history, and with “The Long Night” director Miguel Sapochnik at the helm, we’re all but assured that this series will be big on those bloody battles, dragon-riders, and drama.

Other cool things about House of the Dragon for fans to consider: Aegon’s sisters are formidable protagonists, Dorne might finally get its due, and, well, HBO’s already mastered the tech it needs to tell this story. Jane Goldman’s series was set to feature Direwolves, but not dragons. The Game of Thrones production team never quite nailed Direwolves, but they certainly got the hang of those dragons. So House of the Dragon might actually be the “easier” show to pull off from a technical standpoint. (Also we don’t know how good or bad that other pilot even was, but that takes us into the realm of conjecture.)

So Game of Thrones fans have a lot to be optimistic about. We’re getting more of that awesome Targaryen fire and blood. However, we’re getting it at the expense of what could have been an intriguing dive into lore, told from a fresh new perspective. So do Game of Thrones fan want to double down on the show’s “greatest hits” or something wholly adventurous?

We’ll just have to wait and see if House of the Dragon turns into the prequel that Game of Thrones deserves.

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