Small Council: Let’s talk about HBO’s Fire & Blood prequel

The other day, we learned that HBO was close to ordering a pilot for a show based on Fire & Blood, George R.R. Martin’s fake history of the Targaryen dynasty. We don’t KNOW that it’s going to happen…but it might.

If it does, what do we want from it? DO we want it? What are your thoughts on a potential show covering everything from Aegon’s Invasion of Westeros through the Dance of Dragons?

Image: Game of Thrones/HBO

DAN: So, I doubt I speak purely for myself when I say that this is the kind of prequel I thought HBO would go for first, something that’s tied more directly to the main show, something that would feature dragons…so many dragons. And I will gladly watch a show about Aegon’s Invasion or the Dance of Dragons. Those are great stories.

Right now, my main question is how such a show would work practically. Like…is this an anthology show? Season 1 tells the story of Aegon’s Invasion, season 2 is about the reign of Maegor the cruel, season 3 about King Jaehaerys, seasons 4 and 5 the Dance of Dragons, and so on? Cause I’d be into that.

Or maybe the main story is the Dance of Dragons, which is probably the meatiest part of Fire & Blood Part 1, and the rest is already history, or shown in flashbacks or something. And god, what a story the Dance of Dragons is. Everybody is dead or horrible in that story, and most often horrible and dead. It’s a bleak tale and would take an iron will (not to mention bajillions of dollars) to do well. And I would watch it so hard.

That said, I do kind of like the idea of a completely blank slate of the kind presented by the other prequel, tentatively titled Blood Moon. If Fire and Blood (that’s just what I’m gonna call this show until we get another name) gets made, we’ll already know the fates of all of the main characters. That won’t really matter in the end — we knew the fates of Ned and Catelyn and Robb beforehand and those journeys were still thrilling — but it will make the show a bit more predictable.

And what if HBO makes both shows? At the least, we’d never go another year without a Game of Thrones show for a while.

There are a lot more questions than answers at this point, but oh, what questions. What do you all think?

AMANDA: We’ve heard so much about Targaryen history over the course of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series and HBO’s Game of Thrones that it would honestly be a crime to not delve deeper into those stories. That’s exactly why Martin wrote Fire and Blood, and I think it’s great that fans will get to see those stories play out on the small screen.

If this series is set a few hundred years before we meet Daenerys, we’re likely going to get a look at Aegon’s Conquest. The Targaryens’ path to taking the Iron Throne is one we have a lot of perspective on; many people of Westeros believe they were tyrannical and used their dragons to gain loyalty through fear, but there are also those who thought the years of Targaryen rule prior to the Mad King were peaceful and prosperous. It’ll be fascinating to actually see things play out and discover which side we as viewers agree with.

I’m really into the concept of each new season covering a major era of Targaryen history, and I hope they decide to do that. I feel like it’s important to give a picture of all the different Targaryens. After all Varys’ talk about flipping coins — and you know, Dany’s season 8 actions — it’s easy to paint the whole line as conquerors and tyrants, but there were obviously some decent Targaryens in there as well. Showing us both sides of that coin would keep things real and interesting, and jumping to different rulers would enable the showrunners to do that.

RICHARD: Ah, those Targaryens. At first blush, I’m just as jazzed about the story potential of the Fire and Blood prequel as I am with about Blood Moon. I agree with Dan that this seemed the more obvious first choice for a tangential Game of Thrones series because the history of the Targaryen empire is so epic and anchored so much of what later transpired in Westeros.

When you think about the Targaryen dynasty, you get visions of brutal heroes and flawed deviants cloaked in flowing manes of silver-white hair, all tangled up in incestuous affairs, civil wars and ruthless power grabs. You think of the pomp and bloody corridors of ancient Rome (which the Valyrian Freehold resembles) and the stricken thrones of Othello and Macbeth. The dramatic potential of HBO’s adaptation of the GRRMarillion explodes off the roof of the charts, along with its dragon-packed CGI budget. I’ll watch.

ARIBA: A potential prequel series about the Targaryens? Count me in! Frankly, I would have preferred we get this one before the one they’re currently working on, but the idea of it happening at all is good enough for me.

There is so much I want from this potential series. For one, this would have A LOT of dragons. Not one, two, or even three—a whole freaking army of them. We’re talking about the Targaryens at the height of their power. We’ve heard the names of a few over the course of Game of Thrones and even saw the skull of Balerion the Black Dread, but there are a lot more where that came from.

If I’m being 100% honest, I feel as if I’m more excited about this possible series than the original show. I know that might sound outlandish , but the prospect of seeing the Dance of the Dragons play out onscreen is dizzyingly exciting.

Can you imagine what the budget for this series would have to be? I would so watch this series, without any doubt in the world. Even though I’m not well versed in the history of the Targaryens, I know enough to know that this show could potentially surpass even the high bar set by Game of Thrones over the years.

And just imagine, if this series becomes a reality, we’d have two Game of Thrones shows to look forward to, which means we would never have to endure long hiatuses, assuming they switched off season by season.

So I’m definitely watching this show if it comes to be, and I would absolutely love it if each season focused on a different time period of Targaryen history.

RAZOR: Four words: Balerion. The. Black. Dread. Yeah, I always wanted a Targaryen prequel first, even before the news that Bloodmoon was coming down the pike. Firstly, I stan House Targaryen, but more importantly, I’ve always found its history to be the most fascinating out of all the noble houses of Westeros outside of House Stark.

What I’m probably looking forward to most is Aegon and his sister-wives — Visenya and Rhaenys — brought to life, as well as their dragons. But I’m also really looking forward to seeing moments like the Field of Fire, the battle that extinguished House Gardner forever and gave rise to House Tyrell as Lords of the Reach. All three House Targaryen dragons were there literally melting men into their armor. I kind of imagine it will be like the Loot Train Attack from Game of Thrones season 7, only times a million.

On top of that, there’s Aegon melting Harenhal into the deformed castle we know and fear, as well as the last King in the North (before Robb and Jon) bending the knee to Aegon and becoming the King Who Knelt. And then, of course, there’s the forming of King’s Landing from the mud and log camp call the Aegonfort.

And honestly, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to House Targaryen’s time in Westeros, and I’m not even talking about Maegor the Cruel’s war with the Faith Militant, back when it was an actual army and not some weirdos dressed in sackcloth with stars carved into their foreheads. Then there’s King Jaehaerys and Good Queen Alysanne, and the civil war known as the Dance of Dragons.

Bring it on HBO, you can’t go wrong with a Fire & Blood prequel.

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