House of the Dragon vs Lord of the Rings rivalry is “crazy”

HBO’s Game of thrones prequel show House of the Dragon premieres on August 21. Amazon’s new show The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power comes out on September 2. These two huge fantasy shows will be airing at the same time, which has led many to compare them. Which will be “better”? Who will “win”? I think those are reasonable questions to ask, but Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin is having none of it, comparing the current fantasy boom to the western craze that reigned on TV when he was a kid.

“All this publicity about House of the Dragon vs Rings of Power is such a narrow point of view,” he said on the Game of Owns podcast. “Nobody ever said…’Gunsmoke vs Bonanza, who will win?’ We had Gunsmoke and Bonanza. And we had Have Gun, Will Travel, and we had all the Warner Bros. Westerns…The old west was big enough for 100 shows. Why do we assume that fantasy is only big enough for one? That’s crazy. Fantasy is huge, it’s much bigger than the old west.”

He’s right, of course; fantasy is having a moment right now thanks to the tremendous success of Game of Thrones, and it’s perfectly possible to enjoy more than one such show. (Martin is a fan of The Witcher and The Wheel of Time, by the way, and loves Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, which isn’t exactly fantasy but there are swords and horses so I’m roping it in.) At the same time, I’m looking forward to seeing the discourse online when House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power are both on the air. It’s possible to enjoy both, but it’s definitely gonna be fun to compare them. “I’m interested to see what they’ve come up with knowing how relatively thin is the material they’re basing it on, cause they don’t have The Silmarillion, which would be the solid thing to adapt,” Martin said of The Lord of the Rings show.

George R.R. Martin thinks HBO is “the best” for creatives

If I had to choose, I’d say I’m looking forward to House of the Dragon more than The Rings of Power, at least right now; we’ll see how things shake out after both shows premiere. I know, shocker: the editor of a site called WinterIsComing.net is looking forward to a Game of Thrones show. But it’s also that I have confidence in HBO, and Martin does as well. Remember: Martin has worked in TV for decades, so he’s seen how different networks operate. And to hear him tell it, HBO is one of the best when it comes to quality:

"Not that they don’t have their own hierarchies…[but] HBO has always been sensitive to the creatives, as they call us, to giving people freedom and to breaking the mold in some way, taking risks, letting the writers or the creators do what they want to do, I think much more so than any network or streamer or cable channel out there, and that was their reputation right from the beginning."

Of course, that’s not to say that other networks aren’t having success. “I admire what Marvel is doing with some of that, with their Marvel television shows as well as the cinematic universe,” Martin said; he, like everyone else, had his mind blown by WandaVision. “What the hell are the Scarlett Witch and Vision doing in The Dick Van Dyke Show?”

George R.R. Martin on the “joy” of storytelling

It’s fun to hear a TV veteran like Martin sound off on how the industry has changed, and how much he still enjoys it. “It’s exciting. It’s not the same thing twice…It’s a profession that has joy in it…When I write a book or I write a story or do a television show and it comes together well, there’s nothing like it. Of course, sometimes it doesn’t come together well and there’s nothing like that either.”

"My first go-round in television was the age of networks, and then we entered the age of cable, and now we’re in the age of streamers and god knows what’s next."

Whatever it is, we’ll be looking out for it.

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