"Fire and Blood", the book by George RR Martin on which "House of the Dragon" is based, picks up the history of House Targaryen, and starts many years before the period presented in the HBO series. Thus, choosing when exactly the series would start was a challenge, and the author revealed that he defended the story to start 40 years earlier.
"House of the Dragon" flashes back to about a decade before the main events of the series begin. The flashback showed the Great Council of Harrenhal, where King Jaehaerys needs to appoint a new heir after his sons, Aemon and Baelon, die. The candidates are Rhaenys (Eve Best), the daughter of Aemon, and Viserys (Paddy Considine), the son of Baelon, the council opting for Viserys, the male line prevailing in the succession.
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But there was an idea, defended by the author, that things started earlier. "I don't know if I should reveal this," Martin said in a recent interview with publisher Penguin Random House, where he talked about "House of the Dragon." “This [beginning] was not transmitted by some ancient Greek muse. We – myself and the other writers – had a lot of lively discussions about where to start this story.”
He continued, “[A] possibility we discussed – which was actually my favorite possibility, but nobody liked it except me [laughs]. I would have started much sooner. I would have started 40 years earlier the episode I would call 'The Heir and the Spare', in which Jaehaerys's two sons, Aemon and Baelon, are alive. And we see the friendship, but also the rivalry, between the two sides of the great house”, explained Martin.
“You know, Aemon dies accidentally when a Myrish crossbowman accidentally shoots him in Tarth and then Jaehaerys has to decide who becomes the new heir. Is she the daughter of the eldest son who just died [Rhaenys] or is she the second son, who has kids of her own and is a man and she's just a teenager?” the author continued. Things got even more complicated when the second son died, and the succession became more muddled, without a direct heir to the throne.
“But then you'd have another 40 years and you'd have even more time jumps and you'd have even more casting changes and, uh, yeah, I was the only one who was really excited about it,” Martin said.
More time jumps and cast changes could really be a big problem for fans, the 1st season already full of them by covering a period of 20 years, which annoyed some people. Although “House of the Dragon” started out this way, the series will not have any more time jumps going forward, the current actors living their characters “to the end”, according to showrunner Ryan Condal.
Recently, HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys confirmed that “House of the Dragon” Season 2 will not arrive in 2023, a 2024 premiere being the most likely, although there is no official release date yet. .
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