Game of ThronesHad Its Own Civil War at HBO

AfterGame of Throneswrapped in 2019 after eight years of monolithic success , HBO was eager to feel the nextepic fantasy dramathat could take on the mantle . HBO had never pursued spinoff serial before , but accord to a new account onthe Hollywood Reporter , it was uncoerced to take the peril to create acinematic franchisethat might match Marvel or Star Wars .

The route to creating the series that we now know asHouse of the Dragonwas not uncomplicated . After a monolithic series of pitch , HBO narrowed it down to five ideas that were put into development . “ I want to give ourselves every chance of succeeder , ” said Casey Bloys , HBO ’s chief content officer , to THR . “ You do n’t want to say , ‘ We ’re going to replace the biggest show of all time and it ’s all going to rest on one script . ’ ”

All five concepts were prequels pose before the events of Game of Thrones . Three of them were “ a script about the destruction of the ancient Targaryen empire of Valyria by Max Borenstein ( Kong : Skull Island ) , another was a take on the Dornish warrior queen Nymeria by Oscar achiever Brian Helgeland ( L.A. Confidential ) , and yet another … was about Aegon ’s conquest of Westeros and penned by Rand Ravich and Far Shariat ( The Astronaut ’s Wife ) . That book portrayed the William the Conqueror - inspired figure as a drunken lout . ”

Image: HBO

The last two were Bloodmoon and The Dance of the Dragons . The latter was the story that George R.R. Martin himself had pitch to HBO . But Bloodmoon was HBO ’s first effort at recreating the success of Game of Thrones . It would “ take place year before the events in Thrones , during the fabled Age of Heroes and the wintry Revelation of Saint John the Divine known as the Long Night . ” And it fail , to the air of a 30 million dollar pilot that was finally take for not good enough and locked in HBO ’s “ dungeon . ” Not even Martin has run across it . later on , after some rewrites , The Dance of the Dragons became House of the Dragon . Hopefully , HBO can get some of the trick back .

We ’ll find out soon : House of the Dragon premiere August 21 on HBO Max .

Want more io9 news ? tick off out when to expect the latestMarvelandStar Warsreleases , what ’s next for theDC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know aboutHouse of the DragonandLord of the Rings : The Rings of Power .

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