When it was announced that Game of Thrones would be coming to an end with its eighth and final season, HBO began developing a handful of successor shows which could take its place. One of those shows was a prequel which took place thousands of years prior to the main series and chronicled "the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. And only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend–it’s not the story we think we know." A pilot for the potential series was filmed starring Naomi Watts, but just yesterday, it was revealed that HBO had decided to pass on the project; however, just hours later, they wound up giving another Game of Thrones prequel project a straight-to-series order.
House of the Dragon will be set 300 years before the events of Game of Thrones and will track the beginning of the end for House Targaryen. The ten-episode series is based upon George R.R. Martin's "Fire & Blood," a Targaryen history book which chronicles the history of House Targaryen, starting off with "Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and [going on] to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold the throne, all the way up to the civil war, known as the Dance of the Dragons, that nearly tore their dynasty apart." In a post on his blog, George R.R. Martin spoke about House of the Dragon and revealed that he won't be writing any scripts for the new series, at least, not until he completes work on the long-awaited "Winds of Winter."
There’s a writer’s room to be assembled, episodes to be broken down and scripted, a cast and crew to be assembled, budgets and production details to be worked out. As yet, we don’t even know where we will be shooting… though I expect we will revisit at least some of the countries David & Dan used for GAME OF THRONES (Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Croatia, Morocco, Malta, and Spain). I expect to be involved in all of this to some extent… and, who knows, if things work out, I may even be able to script a few episodes, as I did for the first four seasons of GAME OF THRONES. But… let me make this perfectly clear… I am not taking on any scripts until I have finished and delivered WINDS OF WINTER. Winter is still coming, and WINDS remains my priority, as much as I’d love to write an episodes of HOUSE.
As Martin has been working on "Winds of Winter" for nearly a decade at this point, I'm not about to hold my breath that it arrives before House of the Dragon premieres. Miguel Sapochnik, who helmed multiple episodes of Game of Thrones, set to direct the pilot as well as serve as co-showrunner alongside Ryan Condal (Colony). "The Game of Thrones universe is so rich with stories," said HBO programming president Casey Bloys said. "We look forward to exploring the origins of House Targaryen and the earlier days of Westeros along with Miguel, Ryan and George." Martin also revealed that House of the Dragon was actually the first concept he pitched to HBO when they began talking about a successor show over three years ago. The author also touched on the Game of Thrones pilot which HBO elected not to pursue, saying that he was saddened to hear the news but doesn't believe that it had to do with House of the Dragon. "This was never an either/or situation. If television has room enough for multiple CSIs and CHICAGO shows… well, Westeros and Essos are a lot bigger, with thousands of years of history and enough tales and legends and characters for a dozen shows," Martin said.