Yahoo Movies House of the Dragon will have a 'different tone' from Game of Thrones
HBO's first House of the Dragon teaser trailer immediately brought fans back to the world of Westeros, while production continues on the splashy Game of Thrones prequel. We still have some waiting to do before the series hits screens, but co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik offered another morsel to keep the devoted going through these trying times of anticipation.
According to Sapochnik, House of the Dragon will have a "different tone" from what viewers experienced with Game of Thrones.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about his new movie Finch, starring Tom Hanks, Sapochnik said, "I think we were very respectful of what the original show is. It wasn't broken so we're not trying to reinvent the wheel. House of the Dragon has its own tone that will evolve and emerge over the course of the show. But first, it's very important to pay respects and homage to the original series, which was pretty groundbreaking. We're standing on the shoulders of that show and we're only here because of that show."
HBO Milly Alcock as young Rhaenyra Targaryen on 'House of the Dragon'
Sapochnik would know. He became a Thrones favorite after directing acclaimed episodes like "Hardhome" in season 5, "Battle of the Bastards" and "The Winds of Winter" in season 6, and "The Long Night" in season 8. Now he's co-showrunning House of the Dragon with Ryan Condal, who co-created the prequel series with George R.R. Martin.
"That said, we can't say, 'Well, when we did Thrones, we did it this way…' If you start every sentence with that, you've lost. This is something else, and should be something else," Sapochnik continued. "It's a different crew, different people, different tone. Hopefully it will be seen as something else. But it will have to earn that — it won't happen overnight. Hopefully fans will enjoy it for the thing that it is. We'll be lucky if we ever come close to what the original show was, so we're just putting our heads down and getting on with it and hoping what we come up with is worthy of having a Game of Thrones title."
Ollie Upton/HBO Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans on 'House of the Dragon'
House of the Dragon is based on Martin's book Fire & Blood, which chronicles the history of House Targaryen's dynasty. More specifically, the show will tell of the events surrounding the Dance of the Dragons, which was the name Westeros minstrels gave to the civil war that broke out among the Targaryens hundreds of years before the events of Game of Thrones.
The cast includes Emma D'Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, daughter of King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine); Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, daughter of Hand of the King Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans); Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, the King's brother; and Steve Toussaint as the Sea Snake, a.k.a. Lord Corlys Velaryon, House Velaryon's lord and famed nautical adventurer.
House of the Dragon is slated to premiere sometime in 2022.
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