My theory for sometime now has been that Martin is lost in the story. I think it's a combination of factors.

• The TV show ruined his creative process. Rather than seeing the characters in his mind he views them more as the actors that played them.
• He's created such an expansive world that he doesn't know how to bring the pieces together appropriately. I don't know how he could tie up all the threads he has in just 2 books.
• He's lost some of his interest in that story, and that lack of spark makes whatever he writes not good enough for him.

So even if House of the Dragon crashes and burns I don't think it'll matter. He has many other projects and he'll just pursue them as diversions.

I am looking forward to House of the Dragon though. The Targaryens are my favorite part of that whole world and I'd like to see this series show up Dan and Dave.

 

I like the Targaryens too. My favorite House. I don’t know if it’s because they emigrated from Valyria with dragons…well, of course the dragons, or because they were just so darn interesting but I also hope the show lives up to viewers high expectations.

 

Some smart people at HBO. They made the right move in canceling the 'Long Night" series and going with the Targaryens. The original thought I believe was that people would be so thrilled with GOT that they'd want to expand on the backstory of the Night King and the white walkers. But D&D ruined that. They had the awareness to realize that going with that series would be the Waterloo for Martin's universe.

It's hard to gauge how many people have sworn off any GOT style content after the finale, but I think this gives them the best chance of reviving the franchise. It's also to their advantage that 3 years have passed.

 

To add further insult to injury, Martin now has another book coming out in October. This one is called, "The Rise of the Dragon." It's similar to his encyclopedia style "The World of Ice and Fire," but it just chronicles the Targaryen dynasty and not the entire universe like the original one.

 

The premiere date for House of the Dragon is finally set for August 21st.

 

The trailer has dropped. Not sure if it's the video but the indoor scenes look a little too dark

 

My goodness, those indoor scenes were dark! Looks like they went all out though. Gotta say, I loved it!

 

Yeah, it's got me excited for the show. I wonder if they're going to start when Rhaenyra was younger, or do flashbacks. I'm guessing they're going to use flashbacks to fill in the story.

 

Anyone hear they are working on a Jon Snow show for HBO? I havent a clue where they could take the story in an interesting way with him with how the GOT ended.

 

I heard that too. And the rumor was confirmed by George, so it's in the works.

My initial reaction was that they're going to use the series to fix the ending of GOT. The only way you could really do that is to make it that Bran is evil, and manipulated all of the events that happened in the final season. He had plenty of creepy dialogue to point to it too.

If I were writing it I'd start the series with Sam traveling north to tell Jon that he figured out what Bran really is.

The one thing they have going for them too is that Jon is the last Targaryen. It's a nice bookend to the House of the Dragon which tells the story of the beginning of the fall of that house. So in the future series it's up to Jon to save Westeros. Drogon is also still out there.

The show also never delved into Young Griff. In the books he was alleged to be a son of Rhaegar's that was saved during Robert's Rebellion. It was never confirmed (since the damn books aren't done) that he's a real Targaryen. But when we left off, he was leading an army to Westeros too.

My guess though is they won't do Young Griff, and focus on Jon, but with so many characters dead they could give Jon a brother if they wanted to.

 

From my impression of what I read, the focus would be primarily on Jon Snow. That is why I was confused what the primary conflict or drama could be. Anything big and there would be the question why he didnt get Sansa ,Bran and all their subjects involved. Early seasons of GOT were so good to me because they had a wide variety of characters and didnt concentrate on just one . If they did a limited episode(s) instead of a series, like El Camino ,perhaps it could work. I guess wait and see what they come up with. I am surprised they didnt wait to see reaction to first season of the prequel before working on other spinoffs. I am curious how many viewers still have " a bad taste in their mouth" from the last season of GOT and will refuse to watch the prequel. I still wish George would finish the series of books but dont believe he will.

 

If the series just follows Jon after the horrendous events of GOT then I'm not interested in the series. I don't want any reminders of what happened in that disaster unless they're working to fix it.

They have a number of series in development. I think they want to make it like a Star Wars sort of franchise. But much of that is going to depend on the success of House of the Dragon.

 

I dont know if I will watch House of Dragon because I was so disgusted by the last 2 seasons of GOT and also because Martin wont finish ASOIF books. I may if I am having dinner at my sisters and they watch it or if the season gets good reviews.

 

I can understand. And I know you're not alone in that regard. That's why I'm interested in what the audience will be in comparison to GOT. The Targaryens are my favorite House in his world, so I'm interested in it. If they had done that ridiculous Long Night series that they canceled, I would not have been onboard for that either. I don't know many who would have.

 

Putting aside my skepticism of George RR Martin ever finishing the books, he did say something interesting on his blog recently. George said that the ending of his novels will be different than the TV show. Now, while most of us who have read the books saw this coming, this confirms it. I think he was also casting some shade on Dan and Dave with this comment:

And really, when you think about it, this was inevitable. The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series. Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books. And vice versa. I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show.

Yeah, they're just a little bit more complex. Dan and Dave don't do complex very well, as we could see in the dialogue from that final season.

So, at least we can take some solace in knowing that the ending of the books, which we will never see, will be different than the travesty that was the TV show.

 

The latest trailer is much better than the first one. They did an amazing job with it.

 

The scenes in the city and stadium look like they put some effort and money into it.

 

Less than one week to go now until the premiere on 8/21. The people that saw the screening of the first episode a few weeks back said it was great. It not only gives the feel of the early Game of Thrones but it's grittier. All of the reviews that I checked out were spoiler free so I don't know any specifics about the plot or the events covered.

One thing I found interesting, that addressed my biggest concern about House of the Dragon, was that Matt Smith stole the show as Daemon. I was worried that he was not a fit for the role, and that his acting would need to bridge the gap. If the people who saw the premiere are correct he more than accomplished that.

I think we're in for a great series.

 

It looks like I am going to watch it . My sister and her husband are all excited about it and I eat dinner at their house once a week so it will give it us something to watch that day I visit. They might dvr it and we will watch it the following week.

 

The good news is that the story is already written in Fire and Blood, so it's not like they have to wait for George to finish it. If they follow everything, and I expect them to since George is directly involved, then we'll get the sort of ending that we deserved in Game of Thrones.