House of the Dragon is a Game of Thrones prequel that will air on HBO and HBO Max in a little over a month. It’s been three years since the end of the original show, and expectations are high. Will this new show live up to the legacy of the old one?
Of course, the old show ended in a way that stirred up no end of controversy, controversy many blamed on showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss. And that’s fair; ultimately the showrunners are responsible for everything in a show, so if you didn’t like the ending, they’re the guys responsible. Of course, they’re also responsible for everything you liked about the show over its eight-season history, so maybe keep that in mind before you lambast them on Twitter.
Okay, getting side-tracked here; the pertinent questions is: will Benioff and Weiss be returning for House of the Dragon. The answer: no.
House of the Dragon showrunners?
Benioff and Weiss have moved onto other projects, mainly The Three-Body Problem at Netflix. House of the Dragon will also have two showrunners: Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik.
While Benioff and Weiss were both writers who occasionally directed, Condal and Sapochnik are more like two sides of a coin: Condal is a writer — probably most famous for the sci-fi series Colony, which got high marks from the press in general and from big names like Stephen King — while Sapochnik is a director. Sapochnik was the director behind some of the best Game of Thrones episodes, including “Hardhome,” “The Battle of the Bastards” and “The Winds of Winter.” He’s very good at what he does, so I have no doubt he’ll hold up his end of the bargain. Condal is a bit more of an unknown quantity, but George R.R. Martin personally recommended him for the job — they’re friends from way back — so the signs are good.
We’ll find out how everything comes together when House of the Dragon premieres on August 21.
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