Game of Thrones prequel greenlit by HBO

Game of Thrones concluded with its eighth season earlier this year

HBO has given a series order to a Game of Thrones prequel set 300 years before the events of the hit fantasy drama.

House of the Dragon has been co-created by Ryan Condal (Colony) and Game of Thrones novelist George R R Martin and is based on the latter’s book Fire & Blood.

It will tell the story of House Targaryen, whose descendants featured prominently in Game of Thrones, and comes as reports emerged yesterday that HBO had decided not to move forward with another planned Game of Thrones prequel that was due to star Naomi Watts (Mulholland Drive).

A 10-episode series, House of the Dragon was announced by Casey Bloys, president of HBO programming, at yesterday’s WarnerMedia Day.

Miguel Sapochnik (Game of Thrones) will direct the pilot and additional episodes, and will also showrun alongside Condal. Both will serve as executive producers along with Martin and Game of Thrones co-executive producer Vince Gerardis.

The series will be written by Condal, who co-created and showran USA Network drama Colony for three seasons. He also wrote 2014 movie Hercules and is currently adapting graphic novel Analog as a feature for Lionsgate.

House of the Dragon marks Sapochnik’s first project as part of an HBO overall deal via which he will develop and produce content for both HBO and its forthcoming SVoD service HBO Max.

Sapochnik’s direction for the Game of Thrones episode Battle of the Bastards won him an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series as well as the DGA Award.

Sapochnik directed six episodes of the original series, having previously helmed episodes of True Detective for HBO and Banshee for Cinemax. He also directed the film Bios for Amblin Studios, starring Tom Hanks, which will premiere next fall.

“The Game of Thrones universe is so rich with stories. We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George,” said Bloys.