Rumours are circulating.
Entertainment Weekly and Insider are reporting that casting for the Game Of Thrones prequel series, House Of The Dragon, has begun, pandemic be damned to the seven hells.
The series is based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, which tells the history of the Targaryens, and is set “a couple centuries” before Game Of Thrones, the author wrote on his Not A Blog in 2019.
But that’s a long history, which could be about any number of Targaryen stories. Or ... maybe not?
If Khaleesi is still looking for dragons, she might look to the casting rumours around the new show. Days before casting was confirmed by news outlets, fansites had their little birds whispering more supposed specifics.
According to those stories, two major female characters being cast are Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, who are the catalysts for the Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons.
Rhaenyra was supposed to be the successor to the Iron Throne following her father Viserys I Targaryen’s death, but the king’s second wife, Alicent Hightower, had other plans.
Though EW doesn’t confirm which characters are being cast, it does report Dance of the Dragons “will be tackled at some point in the series.” And Martin’s previous comment that the story is “a couple centuries” before Game Of Thrones also seems to add to the evidence, since that’s exactly when the aforementioned dragons were dancing.
It’d be surprising if the Dance of Dragons is the only focus of the series. HBO has famously gone to extensive lengths to protect story plot points for Game Of Thrones, and basically everything that happens in the Dance of Dragons is already spoiled in a beautifully animated extra for the Game of Thrones Season 5 Blu-ray. But the news is encouraging because the Dance of Dragons is wild.
There are betrayals, Sophie’s Choice-like decisions and though it’s ultimately about who will rule Westeros, like Game Of Thrones, it’s got about 1000% percent more dragons.
We’ll probably have to wait until closer to the series’ supposed release date in 2022 to find out what’s what, but for now these rumours are straight fire (and blood).