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House of the Dragon: GoT Prequel Casting Start, 2022 Debut Confirmed

The last time we checked in on George R.R. Martin and Ryan Condal's House of the Dragon, unconfirmed reports surfaced that casting was underway for the Game of Thrones prequel series (and as well as a possible future storyline detail, but more on that in a moment). Well, there's nothing better than a whole bunch of Emmy Award wins (Watchmen, Succession, etc.) to make people feel a little more relaxed and a bit more talkative. Case-in-point? HBO President Casey Bloys, who officially confirmed that casting for House of the Dragon was currently underway. As for when viewers will be able to see it, Bloys had some more good news (especially considering these production-delaying COVID times) for fans: the series is still on track for its planned 2022 premiere. Written by a writing team headed by Condal and based on Martin's novels, the 10-episode series has Game of Thrones director Miguel Sapochnik ("The Battle of the Bastards," "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 initial reports that casting was underway also referenced that the Dance of Dragons (the Targaryen Civil War that destroyed nearly all of Westeros) is in the series' long-term plans, with the series expected to begin a slow build towards the bloody event. If that turns out to be the case, then 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 HBO's Television Critics Association's winter press event in January, 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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