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Tag: Game of Thrones

  • ‘House of the Dragon’- Episode 4 Recap

    ‘House of the Dragon’- Episode 4 Recap

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    Incest is back on the menu, folks. We got to see the beginning of Daemon lusting after Rhaenyra, after coming home from the Stepstones as a self-proclaimed King. With the episode preview, it seemed that the brothers would be at odds with each other, but Daemon handed the King his crown without hesitation. They were happy and joking throughout the beginning of the episode…but that didn’t last very long.

    Rhaenyra was itching to have a night away from the Red Keep, and Daemon was more than willing to show her some of the after-dark activities in King’s Landing. They happened upon a street performance about the Targaryen successors, where spectators were actively jeering towards the proposition of Rhaenyra being queen, with Rhaenyra pushing aside their concerns, since they don’t have a choice in the matter. Keep an eye on that. Another foreshadowing in that same sequence was the blind woman asking if Rhaenyra wanted to see her own death. Did you catch what the next frame was?

    Next stop? A brothel, where there was all sorts of extracurricular activities going on. Both Rhaenyra and Daemon had some drinks and started making out and coming pretty close to sexing each other before Daemon had second thoughts and disappeared. Rhaenyra was still rearing to go, so she found a suitable replacement in the Kingsguard Criston Cole. This is a big change from the book, where Rhaenyra had a big crush on him, but they never actually did the thing. That was saved for someone else who you saw in the episode (not Daemon!).

    Rhaenyra’s Exploits

    Over this entire season, Rhaenyra has had some existential crises. First losing her mother, then losing her best friend-who became her stepmother- followed by worrying about being supplanted as heir, and now feeling like she is just a prize to be sold off to the highest bidder. She’s yearning for freedom and to escape these pressures, and these last two episodes she’s had Criston and Daemon to help her out.

    Otto Hightower once again overreached, spilling the beans on Rhaenyra and Daemon, but Viserys was having none of it, and sent him back to Oldtown, finally. He knows that Otto’s ambition is to place his grandson, Aegon, on the Iron Throne and any ammo he gets he will use. The source of his information is none other than the White Worm, or Mysaria. She’s becoming the Varys, Master of Whisperers, of this generation. It’s shown that Daemon wakes up in her room, hinting that Daemon and her planned for Rhaenyra to be seen in the brothel and this information to get back to Viserys. Daemon’s endgame here seems to be to ruin Rhaenyra so no one else will marry her so he can snatch her up and take the throne. Kind of a dumb move, especially with your brother’s daughter.

    Alicent and Rhaenyra’s time in the Godswood was also important. Alicent is horrified that Rhaenyra would even think of doing these things, especially with her uncle. Rhaenyra lies, swearing on her mother’s own grave that Daemon never touched her, and Alicent believes her. How far will Rhaenyra lie and go to make herself seem innocent?

    The Tea

    So, what was that drink that the maester handed Rhaenyra at the end of the episode? If you watched Game of Thrones, this should seem familiar. It’s Moon Tea, a Westeros type of Plan B that would save you from any unwanted pregnancy. Lysa Arryn, the sister of Catelyn Stark, took it after her and Littlefinger had sex. The tea came directly from Viserys, who does not care who the father is, or even if there is a father. He only wants to make sure there aren’t any repercussions. The episode ends before it’s revealed if she took it. Will she keep Criston Cole’s baby, setting off a rumor mill of whose father her bastard is? Or will she take the tea, and possibly create a rift between her and Ser Criston? He was already pretty reluctant to take off that white cloak and destroy his vows, so this might put it over the top.

    Somehow the show has seemingly sped through 4 episodes of this first season, and there has been a lot of setup and time jumps already. Even with years passing between episodes, it seems like we aren’t missing much, and we’re due for an even bigger jump after episode 5. If you’ve seen any previews or know the backstory, you know that Rhaenyra and Alicent both have younger and older versions of their characters in the show, and we haven’t met the older versions yet (Besides older Rhaenyra being the narrator in the pilot). This coming episode will likely be the last of the younger versions (Milly Alcock and Emma D’Arcy) as the primaries, so enjoy their performances while you can.

  • ‘House of the Dragon’ Loses Showrunner, Adds ‘Game of Thrones’ Veteran for Season 2

    ‘House of the Dragon’ Loses Showrunner, Adds ‘Game of Thrones’ Veteran for Season 2

    Here’s a shocking twist but the currently biggest show on television and streaming, House of the Dragon, has just lost one of its showrunners. Director Miguel Sapochnik is stepping down from the project. It seems the reason is mostly due to investing three years into the prequel series but it seems Ryan Condal will remain as the series’ now-sole showrunner moving forward. George R.R. Martin is still actively involved as a consultant.

    Sapochnik has shared the following statement on his departure:

    Working within the Thrones universe for the past few years has been an honor and a privilege, especially spending the last two with the amazing cast and crew of House of the Dragon. I am so proud of what we accomplished with season 1 and overjoyed by the enthusiastic reaction of our viewers. It was incredibly tough to decide to move on, but I know that it is the right choice for me, personally and professionally. As I do so, though, I am deeply comforted to know that Alan will be joining the series. He’s someone I’ve known and respected for a long time, and I believe this precious series could not be in safer hands. I am so glad to remain a part of the HBO and House of the Dragon family and, of course, I wish Ryan and his team success and all the best with season 2 and beyond.

    Miguel Sapochnik

    Not all is grey, as Sapochnik has a first-look deal with HBO and will be developing other projects. He also still has an executive producer role on House of the Dragon. It also seems like they have added a new director for the upcoming second season, as Game of Thrones veteran, Alan Taylor, will also join in with an additional executive producer role. He is set to tackle multiple episodes in the second season, but there’s no definite statement.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘House of the Dragon’ Lands Early Season 2 Renewal

    ‘House of the Dragon’ Lands Early Season 2 Renewal

    It would seem the dragons will reign over Westeros for a little while longer. House of the Dragon, HBO’s first spinoff in the Game of Thrones franchise, has officially been renewed for a second season. The series debuted earlier this week to staggering viewership, drawing in nearly 10 million viewers across all platforms. It quickly became the biggest premiere in HBO’s entire history, with numbers already nearing the impressive 19.3 million viewers who tuned in for Game of Thrones’ series finale in 2019.

    House of the Dragon is a prequel series based on George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood. Set over a century before the events of its predecessor, the show chronicles the lives of the Targaryan family as they rule over Westeros with a fiery fist. It stars Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Steve Toussaint, and Eve Best among many others in an ensemble cast.

    The fact it gets renewed after just one episode already showcases just how much they believe in this project. Fantasy has reached a whole new level with viewers, but there is something special about the Game of Thrones franchise. Not only did it become the first true “blockbuster” television show when it premiered but its build-up was quite a bit something special. Though the last few seasons had people scratching their heads and may have also brought in a whole new audience curious about where House of the Dragon would land. Going by its critical and fan reception, it’s definitely a show to keep an eye on.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘House of the Dragon’ is 2022’s Most Watched Premiere

    ‘House of the Dragon’ is 2022’s Most Watched Premiere

    It looks like HBO and HBO Max have a hit on their hands. Deadline has reported data from third-party analysis SambaTV that the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon has the highest same-day viewership of 2022. It stands at 2.6M viewers, which is the best for any premium cable or streaming service so far. Though these can go even higher, as Samba only measures based on a panel of three million households.

    Samba TV has been our main point of analysis in regards to how streaming services’ latest shows have performed. As transparency hasn’t quite reached the level for us to understand how exactly these projects are performing, third parties offer our best insight yet. So, it’s definitely interesting to see just how big the House of the Dragon premiere ended up being. These numbers even beat the day-and-date numbers of their movie releases from last year.

    What makes this viewership stand out is that it even doubled same-day data for Stranger Things, which was among Netflix’s biggest releases. Perhaps the potential of a redemption story after the more mixed received final seasons of Game of Thrones pulled in quite the viewership curiosity. We also shouldn’t forget just how large this franchise was when it first premiered on HBO years ago and redefined what it meant to produce a blockbuster TV series.

    Source: Deadline, Twitteere

  • ‘House of the Dragon’ Showrunners Explain Why They Chose to Adapt ‘Blood and Fire’ After ‘Game of Thrones’

    ‘House of the Dragon’ Showrunners Explain Why They Chose to Adapt ‘Blood and Fire’ After ‘Game of Thrones’

    While Game of Thrones may have gone out with a bit of a whimper, it doesn’t seem to have put a damper on fan expectations for the next show set in George R.R. Martin’s fictional Westeros. Season one of House of the Dragon is set to premiere on HBO Max and fans are hopeful that the GoT prequel series, which is adapted from Martin’s novel Fire & Blood which told the history of the House Targaryen. In an interview with Comic Book, showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik explained why they felt now was the right time to bring that story into live-action.

    “The question that I’m left with at the end of Thrones, of the original season, when you start to look at, ‘What do I want to know more about?’ is I’m fascinated by the idea of like, ‘What are Dany’s origins?’ Like, ‘Where does you know, where do these people come from? Why are they so crazy?’ You know, ‘Where did they get that white hair from?’, Saponchik told Comic Book.

    For Saponchik, that meant Fire & Blood, which details two opposing sides of what he calls “Targaryen exceptionalism”, provided the perfect answer to those questions.

    I mean, those are, I think that this answers those questions and gives you a real sense of Targaryenism. We’ve got a thing in this show which we call Targaryen exceptionalism, which is an argument, a kind of a philosophical argument that often happens between Viserys and his brother, where one sees the future of Targaryens belongs to the dreamers, who are the people, the occasional characters, the occasional Targaryens who have prescient vision and see the future as they did see the end of Valyria. And then there’s the old school, Fire & Blood Targaryens like our character Daemon, who really think that everything should be conquered and conquest is everything.

    Miguel Saponchik

    To Condal, going from a world where Targaryens were a rarity to one where they ruled everything made for a more compelling story.

    If you really think about it this is the most obvious successor show to pursue. “I mean, the minute George pitched it to me, a million years ago is, ‘Oh, this is the one that I want to do the most.’ It made the most sense because it’s, we didn’t get to know anything about the Targaryens in the original series, not really. I mean, we got to know Daenerys very well and Viserys a little bit, until he was melted. And so it’s fascinating to go from that world where there were no Targaryens and they were trying to reclaim the scraps of this empire to a time when, the height of their power and decadence and glory and see what it was actually like when they were in power with dragons.

    Ryan Condal

    As for the disappointing ending of Game of Thrones, much of which fans tie to Martin never completing his novels, Saponchik doesn’t believe that’s a concern for House of the Dragon. Not only are Saponchik and Condal dealing with a complete story, but they also have a definitive end point in mind. “We have a very, very precise idea of where we wanna go with it, but we can’t tell you.” As for whether there are more stories on either side of House of the Dragon, Saponchik calls upon another expansive mythology for comparison saying, “I think that the important thing is that this is a… Think of this as an Episode IV, the Star Wars Episode IV. So it’s kind of, we’re in the middle of a history that is rich and full of stories to tell and it’s a good place to start.” 

    For fans of Martin’s novels or those who fell in love with the World of a Song of Ice and Fire by watching Game of Thrones, this is a surprising comparison, to be sure, but a welcome one.

    Source: Comic Book

  • SDCC: ‘House of the Dragon’ Screenwriter Teases the Dragons

    SDCC: ‘House of the Dragon’ Screenwriter Teases the Dragons

    Continuing our coverage of San Diego Comic-Con, Hall H continues with a panel on the upcoming Game of Thrones spinoff with the House of the Dragon. The first spin-off from the wildly popular adaptation of A Song Of Fire & Ice brings us to a time when the Lannisters were not in power, but rather explore the Targaryen empire. We heard these stories throughout Game of Thrones, but now we are going to see them play out on the small screen. One question that has popped up a ton as we are ready for the August premiere of House of the Dragon: how many dragons will we see?

    During the panel, screenwriter Ryan Condal was asked whether how dominant we’d see the symbol of the Targaryen and their rise to power. Given that Daenerys birthed three dragons in the original series, and we saw the skulls of dragons under Kings Landing, it does bode the question of how many would appear. He reveals that seventeen dragons are present throughout the HBO Max’s series runtime.

    Now, keep in mind that in Game of Thrones lore only a select few Targaryens can ride dragons. So, it is going to be interesting to see if there is this competitive nature between the various family members that can ride and the ones who can’t. Still, seventeen dragons are nothing to scoff at and would go a long way towards explaining the expensive budget the show is working with.

  • Kit Harrington Creating ‘Jon Snow’ Spinoff, George R.R. Martin Consulting

    Kit Harrington Creating ‘Jon Snow’ Spinoff, George R.R. Martin Consulting

    In a shocking reveal, The Hollywood Reporter reported last week that HBO was developing a Jon Snow-centric Games of Thrones spinoff show. After the controversial ending to the critically-acclaimed show, it seemed unlikely that a sequel series would be considered. But, it’s now a reality that a post-Battle of Winterfell Westeros will soon be on the TV screen again.

    While the reveal of the Jon Snow show may have come as a surprise to most of the world, Harington’s co-star Emilia Clarke was already in the know. In an interview with the BBC, Clarke said:

    He has told me about it. And I know it exists. It’s happening. It’s been created by Kit as far as I can understand, so he’s in it from the ground up. So what you will be watching, hopefully, if it happens, is certified by Kit Harington.

    Emilia Clarke

    Clarke revealing that Harrington came up with the show’s concept is an interesting bit of information as it seemingly adds a layer of authenticity to the project. Some fans may have fear of this show being a straight cash-grab from HBO, but the series is an idea straight from the actor himself.

    Backing up Clarke was Games of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who confirmed the show’s existence in a blog post from June 23. Martin wrote that the show has the working title SNOW.

    It seems as though Emilia Clarke has already mentioned that SNOW was Kit’s idea in a recent interview. So that part is out. Yes, it was Kit Harrington who brought the idea to us. I cannot tell you the names of the writers/ showrunners, since that has not been cleared for release yet…but Kit brought them in too, his own team, and they are terrific.

    Various rumors are floating around about my involvement, or lack of same. I am involved […] Kit’s team have visited me here in Santa Fe and worked with me and my own team of brilliant, talented writer/ consultants to hammer out the show.”

    George R.R. Martin

    Martin also mentioned that the show is currently in the script stage. “Outlines and treatments have been written and approved, scripts have been written, notes have been given, second and third drafts have been written,” Martin wrote. So, not only has Harrington formulated the show himself, he has already consulted with Martin as well.

    The last time audiences saw Snow on the screen he was heading into the Haunted Forest with his beloved direwolf, Ghost, and the Wildings, after being exiled from Westeros. No plot details have been given yet, but it seems likely the series would start right around this time as Snow begins a new life.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff Centered on Jon Snow in Development

    ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff Centered on Jon Snow in Development

    As HBO prepares to launch its first Game of Thrones spinoff series, titled House of the Dragon, the network is looking to grow its Game of Thrones universe even further. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that HBO is currently developing a spinoff series centered on Jon Snow with actor Kit Harington attached to star.

    It is of note that, while the project is in development, it hasn’t necessarily been given a series order. Should the project receive an official order from HBO, Harington will reprise his role as Snow from Game of Thrones. While details are sparse regarding the project, the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones saw Snow learn plenty about who he truly was – including his name, Aegon Targaryen. The Jon Snow series will differ quite a bit from the other projects in development, as those stories are focused on unknown stories from the past, while the Jon Snow series would allow the series to revisit fan-favorite characters.

    As of this writing, there are seven Game of Thrones projects in various stages of development at HBO. House of Dragons, the first of the spinoffs, will hit HBO on Aug. 21st and tells the story of a civil war within House Targaryen and is set about 200 years before the events in Thrones. Also confirmed to be in development are 10,000 Ships with showrunner Amanda Segel, 9 Voyages with showrunner Bruno Heller, and Dunk and Egg with showrunner Steve Conrad. Also in development are three animated titles, including The Golden Empire.

    Source: THR.

  • Maisie Williams on a Potential Return as Arya Stark in a ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff

    Maisie Williams on a Potential Return as Arya Stark in a ‘Game of Thrones’ Spinoff

    HBO and WarnerMedia have been ambitious with their expansion of the Game of Thrones franchise. Later this year, we’ll see the release of House of the Dragons, which explores the time the Targaryen ruled over Westeros long before the Mad King’s fall would lead to all-out war across the country. O course, that isn’t the only project that’s in the pipeline, as they hope to build an entire franchise built around the many eras of these book series.

    Now, it seems that one of the stars of the original Game of Thrones, Maisie Williams, has shared her thoughts in an interview with CQ on potentially returning to the franchise as Arya Stark. While some may want to leave it behind, it seems that she’d be quite open to returning but there’s a catch.

    I’m not saying it would never happen, but I’m also not saying it in this interview so that everyone goes… [gasps] ‘The spin-off! It’s coming!’ Because it’s not. It has to be the right time and the right people. It has to be right in the context of all the other spin-offs and the universe of Game of Thrones. […] It has to be the right time for me.

    Maisie Williams

    You can see her experience with these kinds of inquiries, as she’s not confirming anything, but wants to share her thoughts on a potential return. If someone pitches her the right concept, it seems she’d welcome it with open arms to once again return to the franchise and continue Arya Stark’s tower.

    Source: CQ via ScreenRant

  • George R. R. Martin Reveals Game of Thrones Prequel Titles

    George R. R. Martin Reveals Game of Thrones Prequel Titles

    HBO’s hit series, Game of Thrones, which garnered more attention than almost any other show during it’s run, ended in 2019. However, the network has plans to continue expanding the franchise through multiple prequel series over the course of the next several years. The first of these shows, House of the Dragon, will debut later this year, but at least four more projects are also on the horizon. In a recent interview, Thrones creator George R. R. Martin gave updates on each of the prequels, revealing their official titles and current showrunners.

    The first series will be centered around a legendary Dornish warrior-queen, and is still repping it’s original title of Ten Thousand Ships. Amanda Segel, known for her work on Person of Interest, will serve as showrunner. Another show, about famed explorer Corlys Velaryon, has changed its title from Nine Voyages to The Sea Snake, in an effort to avoid having multiple shows with numbered monikers. Bruno Heller, who worked on DC Comics’ adaptations Pennyworth and Gotham, is currently set as showrunner.

    The long-awaited adaptation of Martin’s “Dunk and Egg” novellas, about the companionship of a wandering knight and a youthful Aegon V Targaryan, does not yet have a title, but Martin says it will likely either be The Hedge Knight or Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The showrunner will be Steve Conrad, of Patriot fame, and Martin revealed he would like to write more novellas to help with the continuation of the live-action show. Lastly, the writer confirmed that an animated series is in development tentatively titled The Golden Empire, which will shed more light on the China-inspired land of YiTi. No showrunner is attached at the moment.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter