George R.R. Martin loves how “dark” the Game of Thrones prequel is

Most of us will be watching House of the Dragon, HBO’s upcoming Game of Thrones prequel series, when it premieres on HBO and HBO Max on August 21. But A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin has already seen nine of 10 episodes (without the special effects put in) and he’s fully on board.

“George is not an effusive guy,” House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal told The Hollywood Reporter. “But he loved the pilot so much that [co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik] and I both got text messages with more exclamation points than I’ve ever seen in one place from that man.”

Martin also weighed in himself. “It’s powerful, it’s visceral, it’s dark, it’s like a Shakespearean tragedy,” he said. “There’s no Arya — a character everybody’s going to love. They’re all flawed. They’re all human. They do good things. They do bad things. They’re driven by lust for power, jealousy, old wounds — just like human beings. Just like I wrote them.”

House of the Dragon is set some 200 years before Game of Thrones and tells the story of a brutal civil war fought between rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty, back when they were at the height of their power and flew their dragons everywhere. It’s true that the characters are a good bit more grey than they were on Game of Thrones, and they weren’t exactly binary good-or-evil types on that show. I’m very curious to see how the new, darker story will go down when the show makes its debut. Not long now.

George R.R. Martin wants to maintain control over HBO’s Game of Thrones universe

Martin weighed in on a few other topics, as well, including the supposed “rivalry” between House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, another high fantasy epic that will be at the same time. “We’re not even on the same night!” Martin exclaimed. “It’s not a death match or anything. I wish them success. I hope they wish for our success. We don’t have to be bracketed together.”

And then there’s the ever-expanding network of Game of Thrones spinoff shows HBO is developing, which includes a series on Martin’s Dunk and Egg novellas, a sequel show about Jon Snow, and more. There are even a few animated series in the mix. “The animated shows are coming along great,” Martin enthused. “The concept art is absolutely stunning.”

Right now, the only show we know is definitely happening is House of the Dragon, but if Martin had his way, there would be more. “The MCU has The Avengers, but they also have something offbeat like WandaVision,” he said. “That’s what I hope we can do with these other Game of Thrones shows, so we can have a variety that showcases the history of this world. There are only so many times you can do a competition for the Iron Throne.”

Of course, it’s not ultimately up to Martin — HBO will decide whether it’s worth making more Game of Thrones shows after House of the Dragon premieres — but Martin sounds like he wants to stay involved, which could be tricky given that he has more A Song of Ice and Fire books to write. “Sometimes I sit around trying to figure out who the hell I am in this whole scenario,” he said. “Am I George Lucas? Am I Gene Roddenberry? Am I Stan Lee? How do I relate to this IP? Because those are three different stories as to where they wound up.”

Martin is still finding his way through this, but he knows he doesn’t want to go the Stan Lee route. “He had no power, no influence. He wasn’t writing any stories. He couldn’t say, ‘Don’t do this character.’ He was just a friendly person they brought to conventions and who did cameos. To be sidelined on the world and characters that you created, that would be tough.”

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