House of the Dragon score will contain the “DNA” of Game of Thrones

There were many aspects of Game of Thrones that made it iconic; its large cast of characters, its sweeping visuals, its one-of-a-kind opening sequence, its subversion of the standard high fantasy tale…and we can’t forget the epic score by composer Ramin Djawadi. From its trademark opening credits music to bangers like “Light of the Seven,” the score for Game of Thrones was magnificent.

Thankfully, Djawadi is returning to Westeros to score the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon. We haven’t heard a whole lot of music from the show yet, and that is apparently all part of the plan. Djawadi and HBO are keeping the sounds of House of the Dragon a secret.

“I wouldn’t want to spoil that at this point,” Djawadi told Entertainment Weekly at the show’s red carpet premiere, when put on the spot about House of the Dragon’s theme music. “All I can say is that we definitely, overall speaking, we kept the original DNA alive but there’s also a lot of material that I’ve written.”

Ramin Djawadi’s score for House of the Dragon will recall Game of Thrones while giving us something new

Djawadi was reluctant to speak about his work on House of the Dragon, but he did give us a few more details. “I looked at it as, we have a ton of new characters, it’s obviously a completely different time, and that’s why we need some new themes,” Djawadi said. “I think what I love so much about this new show is that it’s different but at the same time it feels like home.”

"When I watched it for the first time, I felt immediately at home in Westeros again. It just has that vibe again, and so I wanted to make sure that, with the score, we have that familiarity but also bring some new instruments we haven’t used before."

We caught a bit of this new vibe in the latest trailer for the show, which is set to a foot-stamping song with driving percussion and what sounds to be some kind of medieval flute. It evokes a slightly different era of Westeros than the score from Game of Thrones.

For all that, it sounds like we may hear some specific songs from the original series crop back up; this show is about Daenerys Targaryen’s ancestors, after all. “That’s part of the connection that I tried to keep,” Djawadi said. “The Targaryens all have very specific sounds and I wanted to make sure we carry that over. When you see the dragons, you [hear] a certain song.”

We’ll get to hear Djawadi’s newest masterpiece when House of the Dragon airs on HBO and HBO Max on August 21.

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