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Game of Thrones Prequel House of the Dragon Reportedly Begins Casting

It's been a little less than a month since we last checked in on George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal's Game of Thrones spinoff series House of the Dragon, and now it looks like we have a major update that should get fans smiling. Sources close to production have reported to EW that the casting process for the 10-episode series is currently underway, though no official casting breakdowns have been made available. Written by a writing team headed by Condal and based on Martin's novels, House of The Dragon has Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik ("The Battle of the Bastards" and "The Winds of Winter") directing the pilot and additional episodes, and partnering with Condal as co-showrunners.

With Martin's novel Fire & Blood covering 150 years in the history of Westeros, there is definitely not a lack of potential characters to consider. The same casting news sources also revealed that the Dance of Dragons (the Targaryen Civil War that nearly destroyed all of Westeros) is in the series' long-term plans, with the series expected to begin a slow build towards the bloody event. Some of the characters that could be folded into the television series include King Viserys I, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Queen Alicent Hightower, and Aegon II Targaryen.

During January 's Television Critics Association's winter press event, HBO President of Programming Casey Bloys revealed that writing was already underway with a look to 2022 for the show's debut. On his blog, Martin revealed that he expects to be involved with the series and possibly write a script or two, but not before he's wrapped the next novel, The Winds of Winter. While keeping details close, the author recommended Archmaester Gyldayn's Fire & Blood as well his two anthologies with Gardner Dozois (Dangerous Women, Rogues) as a little pre-series "homework." Then last month, Martin mentioned on his Not A Blog about the Hollywood slowdown caused by COVID-19 but said that work on the prequel was "flying along wonderfully thanks to Ryan Condal and his writers, and the tireless Ti Mikkel."

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